Biden denies he sexually assaulted former staffer

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday categorically denied allegations from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s, saying “this never happened.”

Biden’s first public remarks on the allegation by a former employee, Tara Reade, come at a critical moment for the presumptive Democratic nominee as he tries to relieve mounting pressure after weeks of leaving denials to his campaign, foreign media reported.

“I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” Biden said in an interview. Biden said he will ask the National Archives to determine whether there is any record of a complaint being filed, as Reade has claimed, but he said repeatedly that he doesn’t believe such a record exists. Reade did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The National Archives also did not immediate reply to an AP inquiry.

“The former staffer has said she filed a complaint back in 1993,” Biden said. “But she does not have a record of this alleged complaint. The papers from my Senate years that I donated to the University of Delaware do not contain personnel files.”