Days before Joe Biden sealed his place as the Democratic nominee to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election, a woman told the host of a niche podcast that the former vice-president once sexually assaulted her.
The allegations gained traction on social media, but it took another month before they made it into America’s leading newspapers and TV news programs.
This is what you need to know about the claims, the reaction, and the controversy.
A warning that this story includes descriptions of sexual assault.
Before the new allegations, you should know the context
The allegations come from a woman named Tara Reade, who worked as a junior staffer in Biden’s Senate office for nine months, when she was 29 years old.
Reade was one of seven women who first came forward in early 2019, before the former vice-president entered the Democratic primary, to say the way Biden had kissed, hugged or touched them felt inappropriate (for more on the 2019 allegations, head here).
At the time she said that Biden had stroked her neck, played with her hair and similarly touched her while in the office.
Reade also said that her supervisors told her she was dressing too provocatively and that one told her that Biden “thinks you have nice legs” and wanted her to serve drinks at an office event.
In April of 2019, Biden addressed the allegations from the seven women collectively, pledging to “be more respectful of people’s personal space”. He’s since joked about the affairs at campaign events and remains physically affectionate with his supporters.
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Three weeks after his statement, Biden officially entered the Democratic primary contest.
He went on to become the presumptive nominee.
Almost a year after her initial allegations, Reade went further
Reade made further allegations of sexual assault for the first time publicly on March 25 this year, in a podcast hosted by a vocal Bernie Sanders supporter, Katie Halper. At the time of the allegation, Biden had all but defeated Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
Reade alleges that in 1993, while delivering a gym bag to Biden in an empty hall of the Senate office building, the then-Senator pushed her against a wall, kissed her, cupped her breasts, and penetrated her with his fingers, all without her consent.
Biden himself has not addressed the allegations, but his campaign issued a statement earlier this month saying the incident “absolutely did not happen”.
“Vice-President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the land