Biden denies former staffer’s sexual assault allegation

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is denying a former staffer’s allegation of sexual assault, saying the accusation is not true.

“This never happened,” Biden said Friday.

It’s Biden’s first public comment on an accusation of sexual assault by his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade.  “I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” Biden said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

A number of former Biden staffers have defended him.

Biden said he will ask the National Archives to determine whether there is any record of such a complaint being filed.

But he said there was no record of such a complaint in his Senate papers.