Lucy Flores, the former Nevada Democrat Assemblywoman who first accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate touching, says the potential 2020 Democrat hopeful’s jokes about the matter are “incredibly disrespectful.”
In a Monday interview on Fox News @ Night, Flores discussed her allegations against Biden and why she felt a responsibility to speak out about as the former vice president readies his White House bid.
“The basis of the behavior that I talked about was something much more serious than just a hug,” Flores told Shannon Bream. “That is unprofessional, inappropriate behavior, no matter who does it.”
In a revealing essay for The Cut, Flores wrote Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” after kissing the back of her head and smelling her hair during a November 2014 event when she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Nevada.
Earlier April, Biden spoke before the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Washington, D.C. and made several quips about the allegations, wisecracking that he “had permission” to IBEW union head Lonnie Stephenson ahead of his remarks.
His joke was “so incredibly disrespectful,” Flores told Bream. “Frankly, to me it demonstrated that the words that he said — that he was going to take this very seriously, that he was going to listen, that he was going to learn — to me, that indicated that he didn’t mean that at all.”
Biden released a video statement saying that he would be “much more mindful” of others’ personal space in response to several allegations of inappropriate touching — but did not explicitly apologize for his conduct.
Flores’ remarks come as Biden is reportedly slated set to announce his presidential run in a video Thursday, followed by a union hall appearance in Pittsburgh Monday.