by Frank Holmes, reporter
Former Vice President Joe Biden got the strangest endorsement of the 2020 campaign when one of the leading up-and-coming Democrats said Biden is probably guilty of sexual assault—but she’s voting for him anyway.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — a member of the popular Democratic socialist “Squad” — told a British tabloid, “I do believe Tara Reade.”
Reade accused Biden of throwing her against a wall, shoving his fingers inside her vagina, and eventually firing her when she worked for him as an aide in the early 1990s.
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Biden has defended himself by saying, “I don’t remember any complaint ever having been made.” Reade is currently under investigation by the California District Attorney over alleged perjury in her role as an expert witness for the state.
Omar says she still believes Reade’s sexual assault allegations.
“There’s a lot of unsavory stuff” in the allegation, Omar told Josh Glancy of the London Sunday Times. “It is troubling. I do believe Tara Reade.”
Omar aimed a shot squarely at Biden’s defenders who asked why Reade—who endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries—waited so long to come forward.
“It takes years and years for sexual assault survivors to come forward,” Omar said. “Justice can be delayed, but it should never be denied.”
When Omar’s followers confronted Omar about the story, she blamed the newspaper for twisting her words in the May 6 interview. “Quotes aren’t always in context,” she tweeted—but the reporter said that’s a lie.
“Luckily, this was all on the record,” Glancy said. “Take a look and judge for yourself.”
Omar dug herself further into a hole when she contradicted herself the next day on national TV.
During an appearance on Good Morning America Tuesday morning, Omar said Reade’s criminal charges against Biden ring true.
“There’s obviously parts of what she has said that has (sic.) been corroborated, parts of it that hasn’t (sic.). That is not my place to litigate that, her story,” Omar said. “I think it is important when somebody says they have been assaulted, and they see themselves as survivors that we, as we have been saying, ‘Believe survivors.’”
But Omar wasn’t finished digging.
She said even though she believes Biden is a sexual predator, he’s got her vote.
Omar wrote that, even though “I didn’t pick him as our nominee,” she’s on the Biden bandwagon.
“This is the most important election cycle of our lifetimes and we aren’t going to have a chance if we don’t spend our energy in mobilizing and building enthusiasm against Trump. That’s the goal we should all be united on,” she wrote.
We can’t fend off perceived attacks with attacks on others. This is the most important election cycle of our lifetimes and we aren’t going to have a chance if we don’t spend our energy in mobilizing and building enthusiasm against Trump. That’s the goal we should all be united on
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 25, 2020
That’s the position of all the members of the Democratic Socialists in “The Squad.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Biden has engaged in “a form of gaslighting” and shown “the exact opposite of integrity” in trying to stifle Reade’s complaints.
Fellow “Squad” comrade Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., wrote that the Democratic Party needs to have “an uncomfortable conversation” about Biden’s past.
Yet another Omar ally, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, tweeted out the article, calling it a “must read.”
But they also say they’re voting for Joe Biden.
AOC said she has a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach about Reade’s comments, “but also, I don’t want another term of Trump…I’ve always said that I will support the Democratic nominee.”
By saying they believe Joe Biden is guilty but they’ll vote for him anyway, they’re butting heads with an even more prominent Democrat: Joe Biden.
In an MSNBC interview, the likely Democratic nominee told voters to “vote their heart.”
“If they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me,” he said. “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade.”
The hypocrisy of people like Omar and AOC turns the stomach of former Sanders speechwriter David Sirota.
“It is grotesque & yet predictable that Dems & lib pundits can go from rightly defending Christine Ford into character assassinating Tara Reade,” Sirota tweeted last month. “The allegations deserve to be taken seriously.”
Some columnists believe this divide will spell doom for the Democratic ticket this November.
“Could be time to make that MAGA hat purchase in preparation for the January inauguration,” wrote David Israel at The Jewish Press.
“Is Joe Biden just going to be the most unlucky Democratic presidential candidate since George McGovern, who didn’t win even his own state of South Dakota in 1972?” Israel asked. “Thank you, Congresswoman Omar.”
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”