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'This is false': Tara Reade hits back at media report that implied she did not report 'harassment,' 'assault'
May 03, 2020
The outlet has since updated its story
Tara Reade, the woman who accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, hit back at the Associated Press on Saturday after the news outlet claimed she did not refer to the incident with Biden as "assault" or "harassment" in a document reporting the incident.
The AP reported that Reade filed a "limited report" with the congressional personnel office that did not "explicitly accuse him of sexual assault or harassment."
"The main word I used — and I know I didn't use sexual harassment — I used 'uncomfortable.' And I remember 'retaliation,'" Reade told the AP.
"I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable," Reade explained. "I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault."
In reporting the story on social media, the AP said, "Tara Reade says a Senate report she filed against Joe Biden didn't refer to sexual harassment or assault."
But according to Reade, the AP's characterization is not true of what she actually said.
"This is false," Reade responded on Twitter.
Though Reade did not clarify what she was referring to, the AP's story was being used by Biden's defenders as evidence that Reade's allegations are not credible.
It is likely that Reade was referring to the phrasing of the AP's headline and social media copy, which implied that Reade did not actually report the incident with Biden in documents to the CPO.
By Sunday morning, the Associated Press had updated its headline and included new material in its story to better reflect what Reade said.
An editor's note on the story read, "The headline of this story was changed for clarity and to incorporate a direct quote from Reade. The AP also added material to the story, which details the specific words and examples Reade says she used in a Senate complaint about Joe Biden. The AP is adding the material to reflect that while Reade says she did not specifically use the words "sexual harassment" in the complaint, she says the behavior she was describing amounts to sexual harassment."
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Staff Writer
Chris Enloe is a staff writer for Blaze News
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