Tara Reade, the woman who’s accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, told her ex-husband that she was sexually harassed in the then-senator’s office, a court document from 1996 has revealed.
Theodore Dronen described what Reade had told him in the court declaration filed in their divorce, writing: ‘On several occasions [Reade] related a problem she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden’s office.’
He went on to write that Reade said she ‘eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the Senator’s office and left her position’.
‘It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on [Reade], and that she is still sensitive and effected [sic] by it today,’ he wrote.
The document, obtained by The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California, on Thursday, shows that Reade had shared her account of what happened in Biden’s office in the years after the alleged incident, though it does not mention her current allegations against the presumptive presidential nominee.
Tara Reade, the woman who’s accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, told her ex-husband that she was sexually harassed in the then-senator’s office, a court document from 1996 revealed
‘The affidavit from Ms. Reade’s ex-husband is further support that Ms. Reade was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed by then Senator Joe Biden,’ Reade’s New York-based attorney Douglas Wigdor told the Tribune.
Biden’s campaign has declined to comment on the development.
Biden has vehemently denied Reade’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her when she worked for him in 1993
Reade, 56, claims that when she was a senate aide in 1993, Biden pinned her against a wall, reached under her skirt and assaulted her – while Biden has vehemently denied the allegations.
Reade says she described her concerns about Biden in a complaint she filed with the congressional personnel office – though she says she did not use the words ‘sexual harassment’ or ‘sexual assault’ in the complaint.
Biden’s campaign has called for the secretary of the Senate to release any complaint Reade filed, but the office says it cannot disclose that information due to confidentiality concerns.
Last week, Reade’s former neighbor came forward to say that Reade told her about the alleged attack sometime in 1995 or 1996.
The 1996 divorce filing emerged just as Reade sat down with Megyn Kelly for her first major on-camera interview, where she provided new details about the alleged incident and called for Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
The 1996 divorce filing emerged just as Reade sat down with Megyn Kelly for her first major on-camera interview on Thursday
Megyn Kelly (right) teased an interview with Joe Biden’s sexual assault accuser Tara Reade (left) on Thursday, which included these images of the two women
For the first time in the telling of her story to news organizations, Reade told Kelly that Biden ‘said something vulgar’ to her during the alleged assault.
‘He said I want to f*** you,’ Reade said.
‘And he said it low. And I was pushing away and I remember my knee hurting because our knees, because he had opened my legs with his knee and our kneecaps clashed, so I felt this sharp pain,’ Reade said. ‘His fingers were inside of my private area, my vagina.’
In every telling of the story, Reade said Biden told her she ‘was nothing’ before walking away. ‘I think that’s the hardest thing,’ she told Kelly. ‘Those words stayed with me my whole life.’
‘I remember small things,’ the accuser continued. ‘I remember trying to put my shoe back on because I came out of my shoe and I remember my knee hurting and I remember the smell.’
She told Kelly that she wanted to say ‘stop.’ ‘I thought it, I don’t know if I said it,’ she said.
She also said she wanted Biden to end his presidential run and face the music.
‘I want to say you and I were there, Joe Biden, please step forward and be held accountable, you should not be running on character for president of the United States,’ Reade told Kelly, who had asked what her message was for Biden.
Kelly followed up by asking Reade if she wanted Biden to withdraw from the presidential contest.
‘I wish he would,’ Reade answered. ‘But he won’t, but I wish he would, that’s how I feel emotionally.
She previously wrote on social media that Americans should support Bernie Sanders, Biden’s former Democratic primary rival.
She then told Kelly that an apology now wouldn’t be sufficient. ‘I think it’s a little late,’ Reade said.
Reade revealed to Kelly that she had taken her complaint to both Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns when they were still active.
‘I tried to reach out to them,’ Reade said. ‘I didn’t get a response.’
She said she chose Harris because as a Californian, the ex-2020 candidate is her senator.
Reade also told Kelly that she would testify under oath and be cross examined, but she’d only take a polygraph test if the former vice president took one first.
‘I’m not a criminal,’ Reade said. ‘Joe Biden should take the polygraph. What kind of precedent does that set for survivors of violence? Does that mean we’re presumed guilty? And we all have to take polygraphs.’
‘So I will take one if Joe Biden takes one, but I am not a criminal,’ Reade added.