Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault, said Tuesday that she is taking refuge in Russia.
“I’m still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good,” she said, according to Sputnik. “I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I’m safe or not.”
During the Sputnik interview, Reade said she made a “very difficult” decision to flee Biden’s America because she no longer feels safe, claiming that her life was under threats due to her allegations against the president.
“I just didn’t want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices,” she said, according to Sputnik.
“I felt that while this election is gearing up and there’s so much at stake, I’m almost better off here and just being safe.”
Reade, who has a history of speaking in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also praised how accommodating the Kremlin has been toward her and like-minded people.
“There are people here that are coming to Russia—much like back in the day when Soviet Union people defected over to the U.S.—now you have the opposite. Now you have U.S. and European citizens looking for safe haven here,” she told Sputnik. “And luckily, the Kremlin is accommodating. So we’re lucky.”
At another point in the interview, Reade said she would like to “apply for citizenship in Russia, from the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,” promising to be “a good citizen.” But she still wishes to keep her U.S. citizenship.
The Accusation
In 2020, Reade alleged that then-presidential nominee Biden had sexually assaulted her when she worked for his Senate office in 1993 by pinning her against a wall, forcefully kissing her, putting his hands under her clothing, and penetrating her with his fingers. She reported that at the time, “He said, ‘Come on, man, I heard you liked me.’”Reade could not remember the exact location or date of the alleged assault, but said it happened when a supervisor asked her to deliver a duffel bag to Biden on Capitol Hill.
“I’m not going to question her motive,” Biden said in an interview with MSNBC in 2020. “I’m not going to do that at all. I don’t know why she’s saying this. I don’t know why after 27 years this gets raised.”
Reade, who described herself as a long-time Democrat, had not received much support from influential female Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren or former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who had endorsed Biden in his bid for the presidency. Those endorsements prompted Reade to walk away from the Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) had expressed frustration about the apparent lack of mainstream discussion surrounding Reade’s allegations, describing the situation as “a form of gaslighting.”
“I think it’s legitimate to talk about these things. And if we want, if we again want to have integrity, you can’t say both believe women, support all of this, until it inconveniences you, until it inconveniences us,” the congresswoman said in an April 2020 interview with The Wing, a now-defunct women’s-only social club.
