New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday night said the recent sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden should be discussed, a charge the presumptive nominee's campaign has denied.
The congresswoman said that it is "not okay" to prioritize beating Trump over discussing sensitive #MeToo issues like these because they are "very legitimate thing[s]."
The accusation was recently leveled against Biden by Tara Reade, who worked for him when he was a Delaware senator in the 1990s.
Reade came forward with these allegations during the height of the primary contest, when she supported Bernie Sanders over Biden.
According to the New York Times, Reade accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in the halls of the Capitol in 1993. The paper cited interviews with Reade's former colleagues who did not remember any complaints from Reade about the kind of behavior from Biden she describes now.
"Several people who worked in the Senate office with Ms. Reade said they did not recall any talk of such an incident or similar behavior by Mr. Biden toward her or any women. Two office interns who worked directly with Ms. Reade said they were unaware of the allegation or any treatment that troubled her," the Times wrote.
One of Reade's former colleagues, Marianne Baker, Biden's former executive assistant, provided a statement to the Times through the campaign.
"I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period — not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone," the statement from Baker said. "I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade's accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager."
The Washington Post reported that Reade's accusation has changed over the past year in interviews she has given. When she accused Biden of inappropriate touching last year she did not mention anything about the physical assault.
The Post reported Reade voted for the Obama-Biden ticket twice and sometimes tweeted positively about Biden.
In addition, the AP reported that after speaking with Reade about her complaints in April 2019, it "declined to publish details of the interview at the time because reporters were unable to corroborate her allegations, and aspects of her story contradicted other reporting."
Biden's deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, told CBS News the accusation was "untrue."
"Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women," Bedingfield's statement read. "He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen."
These new statements from the New York congresswoman come just hours after former President Barack Obama broke his 2020 campaign silence and endorsed Biden via an online 12-minute video, a day after Biden's remaining opponent, Sanders, also endorsed him.
Ocasio-Cortez was Sanders' highest-profile supporter. She explained in an online conversation how she sees her role as a prominent progressive voice in the presidential race: "My job is to push" against the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
there doesn't seem to be anything here