Tara Reade says Biden, who was 50 at the time, pushed her up against a wall. Photo / Supplied/Getty Images
Tara Reade says Biden, who was 50 at the time, pushed her up against a wall. Photo / Supplied/Getty Images
Warning: Graphic
A former assistant has described Democrat candidate Joe Biden's alleged sex assault when he "pushed her up" against a US Senate hallway wall and says he "doesn't deserve the presidency".
Tara Reade worked as an assistant in Joe Biden's senate office and said the physical assault happened in Washington in the Spring of 1993.
At the time, Biden was aged 50 and had been a senator for two decades, and Reade was in the first year of her job with the man she once considered her "hero".
In an exclusive interview on Nine's 60 Minutes, Reade described the encounter and why she believes Biden is a sexual predator.
"He put his hand up my skirt and he penetrated me with his fingers.
"When I pulled away, he was kind of almost annoyed and he looked at me and said, 'I heard you liked me'.
"He was angry ... he said 'you're nothing to me ... you're nothing'."
Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade has described how the Democrat nominee allegedly sexually assaulted her. Photo / 60 Minutes
Reade said that as a first-year assistant, it was a senator's word against hers, so she kept quiet, only telling her mother.
She advised Reade "to go to the police right then and keep on what I was wearing".
Asked by Nine News US correspondent Alexis Daish why she didn't do that at the time, Reade said police were "there to protect the senators and the congressmen, they're not there to protect us".
Reade is one of eight women who have accused the Democratic presidential nominee of inappropriate touching.
Prior to the sexual assault in the hallway, Reade said Biden had begun touching her.
"He would just put his hands ... on my shoulder," she said.
"Usually he'd put his hand and then he'd run his fingers and things like that.
Tara Reade says Biden, who was 50 at the time, pushed her up against a wall. Photo / Supplied/Getty Images
"It's not like there was, you know what I'm saying, there was no reciprocal relationship, or flirtation, there was nothing like that."
Asked whether she told Biden not to touch her, Reade said she was "too scared to say" and like with other women, Biden "seemed to lack boundaries".
"He's like a wolf in sheep's clothing," she said.
After many years of saying nothing, finally last year Reade filed a written complaint to the Senate, but it did not mention Biden's sexual assault, only his inappropriate behaviour.
Tara Reade says Joe Biden 'doesn't deserve the presidency'. Photo / 60 Minutes
Asked why she was now speaking out about it, Reade said: "I decided that people needed to know.
"I know what his character is and he doesn't deserve the presidency based on what happened to me."
Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade working as a young US Senate staffer in the 1990s. Photo / 60 Minutes
Reade said the assault still caused her immense emotional turmoil.
Biden has denied that the assault against Reade ever happened.
"He's been misogynistic, he's had sexual assault allegations, sexual harassment," Reade told 60 Minutes. "He's a blue Trump."
Earlier this year, the former Vice President to Barack Obama went on US television and emphatically denied sexually assaulting Reade, saying the incident "never happened".
In response to Biden's denials, Reade said: "I know he knows."
She said going public had cost her dearly.
"I lost work legitimacy, I lost my reputation, I lost friendships, I lost my housing, money, everything,"
"I think the fact he's an elite Democrat put him in this untouchable position."
SEXUAL HARM - DO YOU NEED HELP?
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111. If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone contact Safe to Talk confidentially: • Call 0800 044 334 • Text 4334 • Email support@safetotalk.nz • For more info or to web chat visit www.safetotalk.nz Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
