Former Vice President Joe Biden didn't seem to be doing himself any favors Friday when he refused to unseal the senatorial papers he sent to the University of Delaware amid accusations of sexual assault made by his former staffer, Tara Reade, Politico reports.
Biden finally addressed the allegations Friday, claiming they weren't true. He went on to say that any complaint filed by Reade (Reade said she didn't mention the alleged assault in her complaint, but that he "made her feel uncomfortable") about the alleged incident wouldn't be found among his papers, but rather in the National Archives. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, asked the National Archives to release whatever they come across. But things got complicated when the National Archives said personnel records are actually held by the Senate, whose rules say they're actually held by the General Services Administration, which said they're actually held by, you guessed it, the National Archives.
The confusion quickly lit a spark among President Trump's re-election campaign that will likely keep burning throughout the cycle. "The most transparent thing Joe Biden did this morning was admit that he is hiding documents so they can't be used against him," said Emma Vaughn, Florida press secretary for the Republican National Committee, in a statement.
Of course, it's not only Biden's GOP opponents who want to know more about Reade's allegations — many Democrats are also pushing for the case to be scrutinized more closely, and opening up the Delaware archives would be one way to start. However, several people told Politico that it's standard to keep those documents under wraps while a politician is still active. Read more at Politico.