'The View' Hosts Give Rave Reviews to Biden's Response to Allegations: 'What Else Can He Do?'
The left-wing ladies of ABC’s “The View” praised presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday for a recent response to sexual assault allegations leveled against him by former Senate staffer Tara Reade.
Accused last month of numerous instances of inappropriate touching, as well as a penetrative sexual assault in a private hallway at the U.S. Capitol in 1993, Biden was first called on to address the allegations last Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
The former vice president’s unequivocal on-air denial was more than sufficient, according to ABC’s most prominent talk show hosts.
“Look, I think he’s done a lot,” Sunny Hostin said. “I think he’s chosen to be accountable. I think he’s chosen to be transparent. He’s called for the Senate records to be released.”
Hostin would go on to shift the focus toward President Donald Trump, suggesting more attention should instead be given to similar allegations made against the former business mogul during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think what I would like to see is for Trump to be more transparent and more accountable. We have, what, 25 women who have accused him of sexual assault? I’d like to hear from those women,” the host said.
Asked by co-host Whoopi Goldberg whether Biden might have done more to quash concerns regarding the allegations, Joy Behar responded similarly, speaking out against calls for Biden to step out of the race.
The candidate’s lengthy and high-profile history as a public servant, Behar said, would make it unlikely for such an allegation to exist for decades without having been previously unearthed.
“I think he’s done what he can do. He’s already asked for the transparency. He’s asked for an investigation and that’s basically — what else can he do?” Behar said. “He said he didn’t do it, and now we need to look into it, and that’s the situation.
“But you know, I have a question. When he was running for vice president, don’t you think that [then-Sen. Barack] Obama would have thoroughly vetted this?” Behar said. “President Obama — the first black president to ever be in the office in this country — he’s already nervous that the country is going to turn on him because of his color.”
“So, now, don’t you think that he would do an incredibly thorough investigation of his vice presidential candidate?” the host added.
In light of Reade’s allegation, sources close to Obama throughout his eight-year presidency have forwarded a similar defense.
According to David Axelrod, former chief strategist for the Obama campaign, Biden was put “under a microscope before he was chosen to be second-in-line for the presidency.”
The vetting process, Axelrod wrote in a recent CNN Op-Ed, never turned up any such allegation from Reade or other former staffers.
Joe Biden to Morning Joe on Tara Reade sexual assault allegation: “It is not true. I am saying unequivocally — it never, never happened, and it didn’t. It never happened.” pic.twitter.com/kNDF0Fi6dt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2020
Mika Brzezinski presses Joe Biden on opening up his Senate records at the University of Delaware:
“Are you certain there was nothing about Tara Reade in those records?”
“I am absolutely certain.”
“If so, why not approve a search of her name in those records?” pic.twitter.com/f2pCXiWCyd
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 1, 2020
Senate personnel records which would confirm incontrovertibly whether Reade had ever filed an official complaint over the alleged assault, however, have proven a vexing piece of the equation.
According to Business Insider, Biden’s congressional records remain closed to the public at the University of Delaware, where they were donated in 2011.
Biden has openly refused to disclose the contents of those documents, though campaign staff has since been sent to review them.
The former vice president told MSNBC last Friday that they do not contain personnel records, which he claimed would be housed in the National Archives. He also called for the archives to be opened over the matter.
The National Archives, however, has made clear such records would be under the control of the Senate.
According to ABC News, it has since been revealed that the documents cannot be released to the public as a result of the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991.
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