It started as a little noticed story in a small newspaper in Northern California last year, before Joe Biden had officially become a candidate for president.
Against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, a local woman named Tara Reade said the former vice president had inappropriately touched her.
Her account got little traction during the Democratic primary. But roughly a year later — after Reade claimed sexual assault and new details surfaced in recent days — it has metastasized into a serious campaign liability, entering the political mainstream just as Biden seeks to unite a fractious Democratic Party behind him.
“Just getting pulled into that discussion harms Biden,” said Amanda Renteria, who was national political director of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Headlines matter no matter what the facts end up being. … This isn’t going away, obviously. And what you’ve learned in the last 48 hours is this is a narrative folks are going to want to push.”
After Business Insider published two on-the-record sources Monday saying Reade told them about the accusations years ago — resulting in a rush of follow-up media reports — Republicans quickly amplified Reade’s claims, and Democrats began reassessing the potential damage.
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Article URL : https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/29/tara-reade-biden-democrats-217392