WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Joe Biden on Friday was expected to give his first public comments on a sexual assault allegation that has roiled his presidential campaign.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Joe Biden on Friday was expected to give his first public comments on a sexual assault allegation that has roiled his presidential campaign.
The presumptive Democratic nominee will appear on MSNBC\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe\u201d to address the allegation by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade that he assaulted her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the 1990s. His campaign issued a statement in early April denying the allegation, and a number of former Biden staffers have defended their boss in interviews.
Biden himself has yet to face any questions or weigh in on the accusation, even as it\u2019s taken on fresh attention this week after two of Reade\u2019s associates said she previously told them about elements of her allegations.
Republicans worried about President Donald Trump\u2019s increasingly precarious political standing are seizing on the allegation to portray Democrats as hypocrites who only defend women who allege wrongdoing against conservatives. They are digging in despite the fact that it could renew attention on the multiple sexual assault allegations lodged against Trump.
Democrats, meanwhile, are in an awkward position of vigorously validating women who come forward with their stories while defending the man who will be their standard-bearer in what many in the party consider the most important election of their lifetimes.
Some in the party have been urging Biden to mount a more forceful response to the allegation.
\u201cThe campaign has issued statements, but he hasn\u2019t issued any statements in his own voice,\u201d said former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile. \u201cIt\u2019s not helping, it\u2019s just damaging \u2014 not only to the person who has come forward, but it\u2019s also damaging the candidate.\u201d
Lis Smith, a top strategist on Pete Buttigieg\u2019s presidential campaign, also called on the Biden campaign to speak up.
\u201cThese accusations have not been found to be credible, so it\u2019s in the Biden campaign\u2019s interest to nip this in the bud directly and do it quickly,\u201d she said.
The November contest between Biden and Trump will be the first presidential race of the #MeToo era, which has led numerous women to come forward with allegations of sexual assault. Trump has been accused of assault and unwanted touching by numerous women, allegations he denies.
Women are a core constituency for Democrats, and Biden has a mixed history. While he wrote the Violence Against Women Act as a senator, he also came under heavy criticism for his handling of Anita Hill\u2019s Senate testimony in the 1990s. Just before he launched his 2020 campaign, several women accused him of unwanted touching, behavior for which he apologized.
Biden has pledged to pick a woman as a running mate, and the allegation has left those thought to be in contention in a tough spot.
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia Democratic governor candidate, said, \u201cI believe Joe Biden,\u201d citing a New York Times investigation that she said exonerated him.
\u201cWomen deserve to be heard,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I also believe that those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources.\u201d
That echoed talking points issued by the Biden campaign to surrogates last week that were obtained by The Associated Press. They pointed to investigations by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the AP that found no other allegation of sexual assault and no pattern of sexual misconduct.
On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also defended Biden. Speaking on CNN, she said she was \u201csatisfied with how he has responded,\u201d even as she acknowledged \u201cit\u2019s a matter that he has to deal with.\u201d
Some Democratic donors and fundraisers say the issue has not come up in calls with party financiers. Others worry that it could be used against Biden, much as Hillary Clinton\u2019s private email server and the activities of the Clinton Foundation were wielded against her by Trump.
Some, most notably women, say they are paying close attention to the allegations, which gave them pause.
Alex Sink, a donor and former Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, said she was \u201cnot happy\u201d to read about the allegations against Biden. While she still plans to vote for him, she worried his campaign was too quick to categorically deny Reade\u2019s story.
\u201cThey put themselves immediately out on a limb by saying, \u2018It didn\u2019t happen, we categorically deny it, it\u2019s not true,\u2019\u201d Sink said.
Some female Democratic operatives expressed concerns the allegation is particularly damaging because it\u2019s an indictment of Biden\u2019s central campaign rationale: that he provides a moral counter to Trump and that the election is a \u201cbattle for the soul of America.\u201d
\u201cThe stakes could not be higher for defeating Donald Trump \u2014 but at the same time, I think we have to apply a consistent standard for how we treat allegations of sexual assault, and also be clear-eyed about how Donald Trump will use these allegations in the general election campaign,\u201d said Claire Sandberg, who worked as Bernie Sanders\u2019 organizing director.
The silence from the Biden campaign has given Republicans an opening on an issue that was, in 2016, more fraught for the GOP, when Trump was asked to answer for the more than two dozen women who alleged varying levels of sexual assault and harassment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News on Thursday that Biden will \u201chave to participate in releasing all the information related to\u201d the allegation, a stance he didn\u2019t take when Trump faced misconduct accusations.
The GOP argues Democrats aren\u2019t being consistent, pointing to aggressive questioning and coverage of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when he faced an allegation of sexual assault.
Speaking about the allegation for the first time on Friday, Trump said Biden \u201cshould respond\u201d before proceeding to criticize the treatment of Kavanaugh as \u201can absolute disgrace to our country.\u201d
Steve Guest, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said \u201cthe left, and their media allies, has one standard for Republicans and another standard for Democrats like Joe Biden.\u201d
\u201cThe double standard,\u201d he said, \u201cis appalling.\u201d
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Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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