Biden's denial of Reade's charges was necessary but not enough

I applaud Joe Biden for responding to his former Senate aide Tara Reade's allegation of sexual assault, but it is by no means enough to put the case to rest.

First, his statement posted on Medium and his brief interview Friday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," added nothing to his denials expressed earlier by his campaign. His key statement about Reade's allegations that he engaged in misconduct with her 27 years ago. "They aren't true. This never happened."

Likewise, in his interview on "Morning Joe" Friday, he flatly denied Reade's claim, "No, it is not true. I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened."

That's reassuring for those of us who want to give Biden the benefit of our doubts, but it will only embolden his political adversaries -- on both the political right and hard-liners of the progressive left, and #MeToo movement feminists.

Biden needs to try, at least, to clear the air, not only for his fellow Democrats, who have been put on the defensive by the right's relentless Tara-Tara-Tara drumbeat, but also for women's rights advocates, particularly the #MeToo movement, whose leaders are divided in this case by their own controversial "believe all women" mantra.

Reade, a staff assistant in the early 1990s in Biden's Senate office, was one of the women who spoke out last year about Biden's long-running reputation as a Mr. Hands, painfully well-documented (just Google "Joe Biden hands") in a variety of grip-and-grin ceremonial photos over the years.

Reade said last April that Biden had "rubbed her shoulders and neck" and "played with her hair."

She told The Union, a California newspaper, that she didn't feel sexualized. Instead she "compared the experience to being a lamp ... when it's too bright you throw it away."

But the story heated up after a March interview with left-wing podcaster Katie Halper in which Reade claimed Biden pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers.

The New York Times obtained a copy of a report Reade filed with the Washington, D.C., police in March, saying she was the victim of a sexual assault in 1993, the Times said. The report does not mention Biden by name, but she said the complaint was about him.

Reade also was unable to produce a copy of a complaint she said she filed with the Senate in 1993, and Biden's campaign said they had no copy of it either.

In the past month, The New York Times and The Washington Post have taken deep-dive investigations into the allegations but come back with inconclusive results. Although a few people have corroborated parts of her accounts, there are inconsistencies. They include her claim to have filed a complaint with congressional authorities. Such a complaint would have automatically triggered an inquiry, but so far no evidence of it has turned up.

There's more, including some other independent probes that raise questions about her account and her credibility. Besides her complaint against Biden, some stories question her suddenly acquired deep appreciation for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A reader sent me a report on Medium by Brian and Eddie Krassenstein that looks like a made-to-order opposition research paper for Biden's defense team.

Such stories offer a preview of more he-said-she-said stories to come. It can get pretty nasty out there. Much less certain is whether any of this reaches a resolution clear enough to satisfy both sides before Election Day, if ever.

That's why I think Biden is wise to take a stand of wanting to hear what his accuser has to say whether he -- or we -- believe her or not. I have never believed the "believe all women" mantra because it makes a hash of a couple of what should be sacred principles in this country: the rule of law and the rights of the accused to be presumed innocent until proved guilty.

That's why I was more than mildly amused to see President Donald Trump's response to a question about Reade's allegations. "I think he should respond," Trump said. "It could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations, I've been falsely charged numerous times -- and there is such a thing."

Indeed, there is, although Trump's record of sexual assault and misconduct allegations by more than a dozen women, far more serious than the allegation against Biden, amount to a record to which the president might rather not call our attention -- again.

========

(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)