| THE LEDE Joe Biden will personally address Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation this morning for the first time, after weeks of silence as reporters and others dug into her story and Democrats came out in his defense.
Reade has trouble understanding what took so long.
“No one asked him,” Reade told BuzzFeed News. “No one’s asking the question,” Reade said in a phone interview earlier this month. “No one’s even posing the question.”
There’s some lingering conventional wisdom that Biden has been lucky to be sealed off in his basement the last month, able to tightly control the few questions he chooses to answer. But the last few days show how bad that situation has really been. His options to naturally answer questions have been limited, and it’s unlikely one preselected cable news appearance is going to satisfy even many people in his own party.
Reade, meanwhile, has been consistently raising more questions for Biden to answer. Rosie Gray and Ruby Cramer reported Thursday night that she now feels dejected by Democrats she had admired. “I just — I’m stunned,” Reade said. “They didn't just say, ‘Oh, we're standing with Joe Biden until we hear more.’ They just discounted me. They marginalized me.”
For those who have to face the press: The members of his party who are more accessible to reporters have been in a bind as they face more and more questions on the allegation. This is especially true for progressive women, something the Cut’s Rebecca Traister laid out this week. Biden’s campaign has sent Democrats talking points, Cramer and Gray reported this week, leaning on a New York Times report to conclude the allegation is unsubstantiated. The problem there: The New York Times did not make that conclusion.
READ RECEIPTS Texting with Mckayla Wilkes Mckayla Wilkes is a progressive hopeful challenging the second-most powerful Democrat in Congress, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer. For upstart politicians like Wilkes, the coronavirus pandemic has completely forced them to rethink their entire campaign strategy. Typically, grassroots organizing means door-knocking and connecting with people face-to-face. That can’t happen now. Politics reporter Addy Baird, who recently wrote about how campaigns are adjusting, texted with Wilkes on Thursday afternoon. P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide.) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Matt Berman, Veronica Dulin, and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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