Appearing Thursday on MSNBC, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said former Vice President Joe Biden is a “model” for handling sexual assault allegations, referring to former Senate staffer Tara Reade’s accusation against the presumptive Democrat White House nominee.
A partial transcript is as follows:
ANDREA MITCHELL: You are, of course, one of the two senators from Delaware, and the issue of the University of Delaware is front and center in efforts by the vice president to clear his name from this allegation from a former aide, a 27-year-old allegation. The Senate has rejected his request that the Senate search its files for any archives that might exist of an alleged complaint that Tara Reade said she filed. The vice president has said that the University of Delaware’s records from the Biden legacy from the Senate would not include anything. Why not just lift the seal and have an independent body go through them and see if there’s anything there?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: I certainly think that Joe Biden’s response to this is a model of how you respect someone who has come forward with an accusation. He hasn’t questioned her motives, or challenged, or criticized her, as other national elected leaders have when they’ve been accused. He’s instead urged the media to investigate thoroughly, and given that she’s now claimed she filed some sort of a report with a Senate body, the right place for that document to be is either national archives or with the secretary of the Senate. Former vice president Biden has directed, by letter, the secretary of the Senate release that file. I’ll remind you that’s someone who works for majority leader McConnell, so I’m frankly puzzled by their refusal so far to do that.
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