Tara Reade says the words 'assault' or 'harassment' won't be found in her 1993 complaint against Biden
- Tara Reade, the former Biden staffer who says he sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, told the Associated Press her decades-old complaint to a congressional personnel office didn't contain the words "assault" or "harassment."
- Reade said she was "too scared" to write about her alleged sexual assault in the original complaint.
- She last year accused Biden of inappropriately caressing her, but didn't allege Biden had sexually assaulted her until March 2020.
- Reade alleges Biden assaulted her in a Senate corridor in 1993 when he put his hands under her skirt and underwear without her consent.
- Biden has denied all accusations against him.
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Tara Reade, the former staffer of former Vice President Joe Biden who alleged Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993, said the complaint she filed with the Senate personnel office in the 90s does not contain the words "assault" or "harassment."
"I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable," Reade told the Associated Press on Friday. "I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault."
"I know I didn't use sexual harassment," she said of the complaint, which she previously alleged resulted in her being fired from Biden's office.
Reade told the AP she used the terms "uncomfortable" and "retaliation" to describe her interactions with the then-senator. Reade's comments Monday suggest that even if her complaint to the office be found and made public, it wouldn't corroborate her accusations that Biden assaulted her.
The now 56-year-old woman has alleged Biden, 77, assaulted her in a Senate corridor in 1993 when he put his hands under her skirt and underwear without her consent. Reade last month filed a complaint with police in DC over the alleged 1993 incident. Biden has entirely denied Reade's allegations and called for the secretary of the Senate to locate Reade's 1993 complaint. Reade has said she does not have a copy of the complaint.
As Business Insider previously reported, Reade's former neighbor is one of a handful of people who have corroborated her story and said Reade discussed her alleged assault by Biden with them in the 90s.
In a recently rediscovered interview with the Associated Press, Reade told the news outlet last year that she "chickened out" after visiting the Senate personnel office. Those comments were not published by the outlet at the time. When the AP followed up Friday about what she meant by "chickened out," Reade said she meant that she did not file sexual assault or harassment allegations against the then-senator, according to the Saturday report.
As Business Insider previously reported, Reade in April 2019 first told a local newspaper that Biden had inappropriately caressed her, though she didn't allege sexual assault until March 2020 when she made the accusations during an appearance on a podcast.
"I filed it because I had been harassed so badly last April," Reade, 56, told Business Insider last month when she filed her complaint with DC police. "I also wanted to make it clear that I would be willing to go under oath or cooperate with any law enforcement regarding it, because it did happen. Even if it was 26 years ago."
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'It never happened': Joe Biden denies allegation he sexually assaulted former staffer Tara Reade
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