NO RULES
BILL Maher believes Democrats should ignore Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden — and questioned why she’s chosen to make the claims now.
The HBO talk show host said on Friday that “believing everything [from accusers] doesn’t make you noble, it makes you gullible.”
5
“It leaves us with a world where Republicans don’t care about this stuff, so it’s just a unilateral weapon that is used only against Democrats. Trump rides the bus with Billy Bush, we throw Al Franken under it.”
Maher questioned why Reade decided to come forward 27 years after the alleged attack in 1993 — and not earlier in the 2020 presidential primary process.
Reade claims that the former vice president sexually assaulted her when she worked as a member of his Senate staff on Capitol Hill. Biden has denied the allegations.
A brief timeline of Reade's allegations against Biden:
- Tara Reade claims Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in the basement of a Senate office building on Capitol Hill in 1993
- Biden and his campaign staff have denied all claims
- Reade filed a police report in Washington, DC in April claiming Biden assaulted her
- During an interview with Megyn Kelly last week, Reade said Biden should drop out of the 2020 race
- She also said she'd take a liar detector test if Biden did
"You waited 27 years. You think it couldn't wait a few more months? That's what I'd like to ask Ms. Reade. Why now?" Maher said.
"I'm not saying why not 27 years ago. I understand it can take victims years to come forward. I'm saying, why not before Super Tuesday?”
5
“Why not last fall when we still had a dozen other candidates to choose from? Why wait until Biden is our only hope against Trump and then take him down?" he added.
Maher also noted Reade’s non-delete blog posts that featured her praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Reade on Thursday said in an interview with Megyn Kelly that she’s been “called a Russian agent” and said she had received a death threat from someone who “thought I was being a traitor to America.”
5
There’s no evidence to suggest Reade or William Moran — one of Reade’s attorney — worked on behalf of Russia in connection with her allegations against Biden.
Another one of Reade’s attorneys, Douglas Wigdor, is a supporter of President Donald Trump and gave about $55,000 in campaign contributions in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Reade’s attorney has also given tens of thousands of dollars to state and local Democratic politicians in New York — but hasn’t donated to either Trump’s or Biden’s 2020 campaign.
Maher said on Friday: “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but America has turned into a failed state that does a worse job keeping its citizens alive during a pandemic than Cambodia. And to me, that’s a little more important than Tara Reade achieving closure.”
“Democrats are the party of choice, we can choose not to completely f**k ourselves over this,” he said, adding he feels the election is too important to let Reade’s accusations matter.
During her interview with Kelly, Reade called for Biden to drop out of the 2020 race because of what she claims he did to her.
5
Reade first came forward last spring with seven other women who alleged Biden made them feel uncomfortable with inappropriate physical displays of affection.
Biden acknowledged the complaints and promised to “be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.”
Reade told The Associated Press that in 1993, she was asked by a supervisor to bring Biden his gym bag as he was on his way down to the Senate gymnasium.
Reade claimed Biden pushed her against a wall in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building, groped her and penetrated her with his fingers.
5
“He was whispering to me and trying to kiss me at the same time, and he was saying, ‘Do you want to go somewhere else?’” Reade said.
Reade told The New York Times: “It happened at once. He’s talking to me and his hands are everywhere and everything is happening very quickly.”
“He looked at me kind of almost puzzled, or shocked,” she continued. “He said, ‘Come on, man — I heard you liked me.’”
“He pointed his finger at me and he just goes: ‘You’re nothing to me. Nothing.’ Then, he took my shoulders and said, ‘You’re okay, you’re fine.’”
She filed a police report in Washington, DC on April 9 regarding the alleged incident.
MOST READ IN NEWS
On May 1, Biden told MSNBC: “No, it is not true. I’m saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn’t. It never happened.”
During Reade’s interview on Thursday, she said she would take a polygraph test if Biden took one, too.
Reade has said she didn’t initially disclose the assault allegations because she was scared of backlash and was still coming to terms with what had happened to her.