Biden’s ex-staffer Tara Reade lashes out at Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of the Senator amid sexual assault allegations
JOE Biden's former staffer who claims the presidential hopeful sexually assaulted her has slammed Hillary Clinton for endorsing him.
Tara Reade, who has accused of assaulting her in 1993, hit out at on Tuesday after the former nominee joined in supporting Biden's White House bid.
Speaking to , Reade said: "I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. I voted for her in the primary. I'm a lifelong Democrat.
"But yet, what I see now is someone enabling a sexual predator and it was my former boss, Joe Biden, who raped me."
Biden's campaign has strongly denied Reade's accusations.
Reade continued: "Hillary Clinton has a history of enabling powerful men to cover up their sexual predatory behaviors and their inappropriate sexual misconduct.
"We don't need that for this country. We don't need that for our new generation coming up that wants institutional rape culture to change."
She added: "I will not be smeared, dismissed or ignored. I stand in truth and I will keep speaking out."
On Tuesday, Clinton joined Biden in a livestream to officially endorse his campaign.
The 2016 Democratic nominee said: "I am thrilled to be part of your campaign, not only to endorse you, but to help highlight a lot of the issues that are at stake in this presidential election."
She added: "Joe Biden has been preparing for this moment his entire life.
"And for me, this is a moment that we need a leader, a president like Joe Biden."
Earlier this month, with police in .
News of the criminal filing was first reported by , which claimed to have obtained a public incident report regarding her allegations.
Reade, who first made the claims about the former Vice President late last month, said she told police that Biden had assaulted her in a Senate corridor.
She claimed Biden shoved his hand under her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers.
The report was filed with the sexual assault unit of Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police on April 9.
The statue of limitations for sexual assault has passed.
has steadfastly denied Reade's claims, and
Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager and communications director for Biden, said the former vice president has “dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women.”
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Bedingfield noted Biden’s work passing the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
Biden “firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully,” she said, but added: “Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press.
“What is clear about this claim: it is untrue.”