House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiGOP lawmakers slam proposals for guaranteed income amid pandemic 10 things to know about coronavirus for today Black Caucus moves to front and center in COVID fight MORE (D-Calif.) told a reporter that she doesn’t “need a lecture or a speech” comparing the treatment of sexual assault allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden
Joe BidenTrump says China ‘will do anything they can’ to keep him from being reelected Bolton book release delayed — again — amid government review Trump lashed out at campaign manager over polling showing him trailing Biden: reports MORE and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Michael KavanaughTrump campaign official says mainstream media can’t be trusted with Tara Read coverage NYT’s Ben Smith: ‘Ask Biden to open his personal papers to inspection’ after sexual assault allegation WH correspondents president Karl on Biden allegations: ‘He’s going to have to answer these questions’ MORE.
Washington Examiner reporter Kerry Picket asked Pelosi at a press conference how “Democrats square with the idea that they’re essentially standing by Biden but used a comparatively different standard with Justice Kavanaugh when you demanded an investigation against Kavanaugh when a similar allegation came out against him.”
“I respect your question, and I don’t need a lecture or a speech,” Pelosi responded.
“I have a complete respect for the whole ‘MeToo’ movement,” she added. “I have four daughters and one son. And there’s a lot of excitement around the idea that women will be heard and be able to be listened to.”
Q: “How do Democrats square they’re essentially standing by Biden but they’re using a comparatively different standard with Kavanaugh when you demanded an investigation on Justice Kavanaugh–?”
Pelosi: “I respect your question and I don’t need a lecture or a speech.” pic.twitter.com/RRzfiiMEiK
— The Hill (@thehill) April 30, 2020
“There is also due process, and the fact that Joe Biden is Joe Biden,” the Speaker later added. “There’s been statements from his campaign — not his campaign but his former employees who ran his offices and the rest, that there was never any record of this, there was never any record, and that nobody ever came forward or nobody came forward to say something about it apart from the principle involved.”
The comments come after Pelosi told CNN earlier Thursday that she was “satisfied with how [Biden] has responded.”
Tara Reade, a former Senate aide, said last month that Biden sexually assaulted her in a secluded part of Capitol Hill in 1993 when he was a Delaware senator.
A number of people including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: US economy contracts at 4.8 percent rate, most since Great Recession | Powell urges Congress to unleash ‘great fiscal power’ to defeat coronavirus, repair economy | IRS gets coronavirus payments out quickly but imperfectly Feinstein to McConnell: Cancel plan to bring Senate back amid coronavirus pandemic 10 things to know about coronavirus for today MORE (R-Ky.) have claimed there is a double standard in the way Democrats and the media have responded to and covered the accusations against Biden and those leveled against Kavanaugh before he was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Biden has yet to be asked about the allegations, which his campaign denied in a statement on March 28.
Reade was one of several women who came forward last year to say that Biden’s public touching had made her uncomfortable. He later said he would adjust his behavior.
This week, Reade’s former neighbor said she recalled Reade telling her about the alleged assault at the time. Reade’s brother also previously said that she told him that Biden “had his hand under her clothes at some point.”
Reade has said that she confronted Biden’s aides, but the aides Reade listed have gone on the record to say that they were never confronted about the allegation. She also says she filed a complaint with the human resources office in the Senate about the allegations of inappropriate touching. Media outlets, however, have not been able to track down the complaint.
Reade said she believes the complaint is in Biden’s archives at the University of Delaware, which is currently not releasing the former vice president’s records.
