Tara Reade's Joe Biden Sexual Assault Allegations — Portrait photo of Tara Reade with long curly dark hair smiling

Tara Reade's Joe Biden Sexual Assault Allegations

2019eventclassic

Published October 9, 2026

Tara Reade's Joe Biden Sexual Assault Allegations refers to the public accusations made by former U.S. Senate staff member Tara Reade against then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2019 and 2020. Her March 2020 statement describing a 1993 rape sparked the viral #IBelieveTaraReade hashtag and became one of the most contested political stories of the 2020 Democratic primary.

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Overview

The story first surfaced in April 2019 when Reade told a local Nevada County paper that Biden touched her shoulder and ran a finger up her neck during her time as a staff assistant in his U.S. Senate office in 19931. She said her duties were cut back after she refused to serve drinks at an event because Biden reportedly liked her legs, and she left the office that August1. The allegations initially sat alongside other complaints from women like Lucy Flores and Amy Lappos, who had described uncomfortable touching by the former vice president1.

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In March 2020 Reade escalated the account, telling a podcast that Biden had sexually assaulted her in a Senate corridor7. The expanded version shifted the story from awkward touching to rape, which is why the second wave produced a much louder online fight than the first7. Pushback online also focused on Reade's prior writing praising Vladimir Putin, which some users circulated to question her motives2.

Origin & Background

Platform
News media (The Union) / Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Tara Reade
Date
2019

Reade first spoke publicly on April 3rd, 2019, in a story for The Union, a Nevada County, California newspaper, saying of Biden, "He used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck. I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that."1 A friend of Reade's, kept anonymous by the paper, confirmed Reade had told them the story shortly after it happened in 19931. The same day, journalists on Twitter began recirculating Reade's older pro-Putin blog posts, and Daily Dot wrote up the resulting "Russian agent" conspiracy framing2.

The meme-adjacent viral moment arrived almost a year later. On March 25th, 2020, Twitter user @kthalps posted a SoundCloud interview in which Reade described the alleged 1993 assault for the first time publicly, framing it with the hashtag #meToo4. Redditor rafiki_stonedape then posted a full transcript to r/OurPresident the same week5.

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How It Spread

The @kthalps thread took off quickly, pulling in over 21,000 likes and 12,000 retweets within a day while the SoundCloud audio passed 207,000 plays4. The r/OurPresident transcript cleared 480 points at a 93% upvote rate on Reddit the same day, giving the audio a text version that was easier to quote5. On March 26th the hashtag #IBelieveTaraReade started trending, with @FlyThaiMMA writing, "The media conformity regarding silencing Tara Reade is fucking terrifying" in a tweet that passed 1,400 likes6. @PepperOceanna screenshotted the trend as evidence it was breaking through10.

Through April 2020, Republicans and progressives both pressed Biden to answer, drawing contrasts with how Democrats had handled Christine Blasey Ford's accusations against Brett Kavanaugh7. On May 1st, 2020, Biden released a statement and appeared on Morning Joe, saying, "They aren't true. This never happened," and asked the National Archives to release any complaint Reade had filed; the Washington Post reported it could not find such a record3.

Reactions split along familiar lines. MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart praised Biden's denial as a clean contrast with Donald Trump, drawing more than 6,500 likes8. Writer Philip Klein argued liberals should admit that even if the allegation were true, they would still prefer Biden to a Trump second term9.

Timeline

2019-04-03

Tara Reade publicly accuses Joe Biden of inappropriate touching in a Nevada County, California newspaper story in The Union.

2019-04-03

Twitter users recirculate Reade's prior pro-Putin writing, prompting a Daily Dot article on the resulting conspiracy framing.

2020-03-25

@kthalps posts the SoundCloud interview in which Reade for the first time publicly describes a 1993 assault, racking up 21,000+ likes.

2020-03-26

The hashtag #IBelieveTaraReade starts trending on Twitter following Reade's full statement.

2020-05-01

Biden denies the allegation on Morning Joe and in a written campaign statement, calling for the National Archives to release any complaint.

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Frequently Asked Questions