31-5-2023 (MOSCOW) Tara Reade, the woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault during the 2020 presidential race, appeared in Moscow on Tuesday and expressed her intention to seek Russian citizenship. Reade, who briefly worked in now-President Biden’s congressional office in 1993, stated that she wished to remain in Russia after being informed by a Republican lawmaker that she was in physical danger.
In an interview streamed by the Russian press outlet Sputnik, 59-year-old Reade revealed that she had arrived in Russia as a tourist. “When I got off the plane in Moscow, for the first time in a very long time, I felt safe. And I felt heard and felt respected,” she said. The Guardian quotes her as saying, “I’m still kind of in a daze a bit, but I feel very good. I feel very surrounded by protection and safety.”
Reade gained widespread attention in early 2020 when she alleged in a podcast that Mr. Biden, then a senator, sexually assaulted her in a corridor on Capitol Hill in August 1993 when she was 29 years old. Her accusation surfaced as Mr. Biden was intensifying his campaign against then-incumbent President Donald Trump, who himself faced accusations of sexual abuse and rape. Mr. Biden unequivocally denied Reade’s claim, stating, “It is not true. I’m saying unequivocally it never, never happened.”
Reade asserted that she had filed a complaint after the alleged incident, but no record of it has been found, and it remains unclear if her allegations were ever formally investigated. A court document from 1996 mentions her ex-husband’s acknowledgment of her complaint about sexual harassment while working in Mr. Biden’s office.
During the Sputnik interview, Reade, who described herself as a geopolitical analyst, recounted the threats and challenges she faced after making her allegations public in 2020. She claimed to have been threatened with imprisonment, received death threats, and was labeled a Russian agent. Sitting alongside Maria Butina, a current member of Russia’s parliament who had been arrested and imprisoned in Washington in 2018 on allegations of being a spy for Russia before her subsequent release and deportation in 2019, Reade expressed her deep appreciation for the support she had received. She emphasized her affinity for Russia, stating, “I do not see Russia as an enemy, nor do many of my fellow American citizens.”
While Reade intends to retain her U.S. citizenship, she expressed her desire to apply for Russian citizenship through an official request to President Vladimir Putin. “I do promise to be a good citizen,” she affirmed. The Guardian reported that Reade expressed her gratitude to Butina and others who had provided her with protection during a challenging period, stating her fears of walking into a precarious situation in the United States.
