The New York Times on April 12 removed damaging language from an investigative report on a sexual assault allegation brought against Joe Biden, bowing to pressure applied directly by the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee’s campaign.
Now, the Biden campaign is instructing its surrogates to cite that same report as proof of the former vice president’s innocence, according to talking points obtained first by BuzzFeed News.
The New York Times, which defended its decision to take editorial cues from Biden’s team, is not pleased with this development.
“BuzzFeed reported on the existence of talking points being circulated by the Biden campaign that inaccurately suggest a New York Times investigation found that Tara Reade’s allegation ‘did not happen,’” a spokeswoman for the paper told the Washington Examiner.
She added, “Our investigation made no conclusion either way.”
The New York Times’s since-amended April 12 report, which represents its first attempt to investigate a woman’s claim that she was sexually abused by Biden when she worked for him as a Senate aide in the early 1990s, ended originally with a line that read: “The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable.” The second part of that line was removed later at the request of the Biden campaign, according to New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet. A spokesperson for the paper also explained at the same time that it is common for them to amend news reports depending on the feedback they receive from the targets of their coverage.
Since then, the Biden campaign has instructed its supporters to cite that New York Times report specifically to assert that what the former staffer, Tara Reade, alleges “did not happen.” The campaign talking points read in part:
[…]
Biden believes that all women have the right to be heard and to have their claims thoroughly reviewed. In this case, a thorough review by the New York Times has led to the truth: this incident did not happen.
Luckily for Biden, his campaign surrogates have adhered closely to these instructions. Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, for example, said this week that the “New York Times did a deep investigation, and they found that the accusation was not credible.”
“I believe Joe Biden,” the desperate vice-presidential wannabe added, “I think that he is telling the truth and that this did not happen.”
Earlier, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also downplayed the allegations against Biden by citing the New York Times.
“You can look at that article in the New York Times,” the senator said during an interview on National Public Radio, “and they thoroughly interviewed dozens of people. They thoroughly interviewed dozens of people who … were working directly at that time.”
Let’s pause here to appreciate the grotesque absurdity of Klobuchar, of all people, claiming a “thorough review by the New York Times” as a standard for evaluating allegations of sexual misconduct. The New York Times also said it could not find anything to corroborate Deborah Ramirez’s flimsy allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, even after interviewing “several dozen people,” but that did not stop Klobuchar from adding her name to a letter demanding the FBI investigate the woman’s likely false charge.
It is funny how quickly a person’s standards can change depending on party affiliation. The New York Times, meanwhile, is far less amused by the whole ordeal.
“[O]ur story found three former Senate aides whom Reade said she complained to contemporaneously, all of whom either did not remember the incident or said that it did not happen,” a spokeswoman for the paper told the Washington Examiner. “The story also included former interns who remembered Reade suddenly changing roles and no longer overseeing them, which took place during the same time period that Reade said she was abruptly reassigned.”
She added, “The Times also spoke to a friend who said Reade told her the details of the allegation at the time; another friend and Reade’s brother say she told them of a traumatic sexual incident involving Biden.”
Yet it is this same New York Times report, with all its damning details and unflattering facts, that the Biden campaign points to when it says that Reade’s version of events “did not happen.”
