Woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault used to live in Morro Bay
The woman who says former Vice President Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 used to live in Morro Bay and apparently returned here shortly after the alleged incident.
Video uncovered over the weekend and first reported by The Intercept shows an August 1993 segment on CNN’s “Larry King Live” in which a caller from San Luis Obispo County later confirmed by media outlets to be the mother of former Biden staffer Tara Reade appears to confirm that Reade had told her mother of an alleged sexual assault by Biden, who is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president.
“I wonder what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington,” the caller says in the segment, which was reportedly titled, “Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?”
“My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him,” she says.
King responds in the video: “In other words, she had a story to tell, but out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?
“That’s true,” the caller replies.
King’s panel does not offer the caller advice in the 58-second clip released by The Intercept.
Reade and her mother lived in SLO County in the 1990s
Public records databases and several media reports indicate that Reade and her mother, Jeanette Altimus, lived in Morro Bay in the 1990s. Altimus reportedly died in 2016.
Reade confirmed to Politico on Friday that the voice in the segment was her mother and wrote in a tweet Sunday: “My mother reached out in August 1993. Joe Biden sexually harassed & sexually assaulted me. Those who remain silent are complicit to rape.”
She tagged several female Democratic figures in the social media post, including Michelle Obama and U.S. senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, as well as former President Barack Obama, who has endorsed his former VP.
It appears a second San Luis Obispo County resident is also confirming Reade’s account.
On Monday, Business Insider reported that a former neighbor of Reade’s from Morro Bay, Lynda LaCasse, also confirmed that Reade told her about the alleged assault at the time.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune has been unable to reach Reade or LaCasse for comment. Public records indicate Reade has not lived in San Luis Obispo County in decades.
Details of the accusation against Biden
According to The New York Times, Reade worked as a staff assistant in the office of the then-U.S. senator from Delaware in 1993.
In interviews with several national newspapers and politics podcaster Katie Halper — who broke the story of the assault allegations — Reade, who was in her 20s at the time, said that in the spring or summer of 1993, she was told to meet Biden inside a somewhat private corridor to deliver a duffel bag.
There, Reade said, Biden pushed her up against a wall, reached under her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers. When she resisted his advances, Reade said, Biden became annoyed and said, “Aw, man. I heard you liked me.”
Biden then pointed a finger at her and said, “You’re nothing to me,” Reade alleges. After that, she said, he shook her by the shoulders and said, “You’re OK, you’re fine,” before walking away, according to several media reports.
LaCasse, who is reportedly a retired former medical staff coordinator and emergency room clerk, lived next door to Reade in 1995 and 1996 in an apartment complex in Morro Bay, Business Insider reported.
She recalled to The Insider Reade telling her about the alleged assault.
“I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,” LaCasse said, according to the publication. “She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn’t feel there was anything she could do.”
LaCasse said that her friend was “devastated” by the incident, and she remembered urging her to report it to police.
Despite telling the publication she’s “a very strong Democrat” and plans to vote for Biden, LaCasse told Business Insider that she feels the need to support her friend, who is under intense media scrutiny.
“I have to support her just because that’s what happened,” LaCasse told Business Insider. “We need to stand up and tell the truth.”
A former colleague recalls Reade’s allegations
After leaving Washington, D.C., Reade worked for former California state Sen. Jack O’Connell, Business Insider reports.
A former legislative staffer in O’Connell’s office, Lorraine Sanchez, had worked alongside her from 1994 through 1996, and recalled to the news publication that Reade had also complained at the time about being mistreated by her former employer.
“(Reade said) she had been sexually harassed by her former boss while she was in D.C.,” Sanchez said, according to the Business Insider piece, “and as a result of her voicing her concerns to her supervisors, she was let go, fired.”
Sanchez told the paper she does not recall if Reade offered details about the sort of harassment she allegedly suffered, or if she named Biden.
“It takes great courage and strength to come forward,” Sanchez said in a statement to Business Insider. “It’s much easier to keep silent. However, I also understand the duty we have as women to share our story regardless of who the perpetrator may be.”
Washington, D.C., police aren’t investigating
Reade filed a report with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department earlier this month, but on Saturday, a Police Department spokesperson told Business Insider that an investigation into the complaint was inactive.
Biden has not publicly commented on her allegations, but his campaign has vehemently denied them.
His campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield previously told Politico that the presidential candidate “has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women.”
“He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully,” Bedingfield said, according to Politico. “Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press.”
She added: “What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”
Since she went public earlier this month, Reade’s story has been widely circulated on Fox News and conservative-leaning media sources as a scandal in the upcoming presidential election.
Right-wing pundits have also seized on the allegations to accuse members of the Democratic Party, left-leaning media publications, and celebrities who were at the forefront of the #MeToo movement of not giving Reade’s story the same weight given to the dozens of women who have accused President Donald Trump, or that of Christine Blasey Ford, who testified about an alleged sexual assault committed by now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
In recent days, the #IBelieveTara hashtag has trended on Twitter in support of Reade.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault used to live in Morro Bay."
