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Joe Biden speaks to a crowd in Pennsylvania.
- Democratic officials and activists began voicing their support for former Vice President Joe Biden after two women publicly accused him of making unwanted physical contact.
- Biden said he did not believe he had acted inappropriately towards his accusers.
Democratic officials and activists began voicing their support for former Vice President Joe Biden after two women publicly accused him of making unwanted physical contact with them years ago.
Last week, Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman and the 2014 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Nevada, alleged that Biden grasped her shoulders and kissed the back of her head during a campaign event.
"He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head," she wrote in New York Magazine. "My brain couldn't process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused."
"I'm not suggesting that Biden broke any laws, but the transgressions that society deems minor (or doesn't even see as transgressions) often feel considerable to the person on the receiving end," she continued. "That imbalance of power and attention is the whole point - and the whole problem."
Following Flores' account, Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide for Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, alleged on Monday that Biden grabbed her head to rub noses during a 2009 fundraiser.
"It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head," Lappos said in an interview with The Hartford Courant. "He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth."
Biden said he did not believe he had acted inappropriately towards his accusers.
"In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support, and comfort," he said in a statement. "And not once did I ever believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully because it was never my intention."
His spokesman Bill Russo also pushed back against two photos of Biden that have been shared in recent days; Russo (and one of the women in one of the images) said they are "misrepresentations."
"But the important conversation about these issues are not advanced, nor are any criticisms of Vice President Biden validated, by the continued misrepresentation of the Carter and Coons moments, or a failure to be vigilant about a cottage industry of lies," Russo said in a statement.
Here's what some Democratic lawmakers and activists are saying in light of the accusations against Joe Biden: