Biden says Reade sexual assault claim 'never happened' during MSNBC appearance
Joe Biden defends himself for the first time on TV after releasing a statement denying the Tara Reade sexual assault allegation; Geraldo Rivera reacts.
Fox News correspondent and Fox Nation host Geraldo Rivera said that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden "looked like a deer caught in the headlights," on Friday morning as the former vice president made his first public denial of sexual assault allegations.
In late March, Tara Reade, a former Biden Senate staffer, accused him of assaulting her in a Capitol Hill office in 1993. Biden's campaign has vehemently denied the claims, and now Biden has done so as well, in his own words.
"Geraldo, there have been so many different scandals that you have covered in the past," said "Fox and Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade on Friday.
"How is Joe Biden doing with this one and is it case closed now?" he asked the veteran journalist, whose decades-long career is detailed in the new Fox Nation show, "I am Geraldo, 50 years."
"I certainly don't think that case is closed," said Rivera, highlighting Biden's refusal to release his Senate records, currently stored at the University of Delaware.
Rivera argued that Biden's continued resistance to greater transparency is the new "headline."
"I believe that the charges are credible enough, with corroboration enough, that they deserve to go to the next level," continued Rivera. "One of the next levels is material that may be contained in those files that the [former] vice president has lodged at the University of Delaware... "
Pressed in Friday's interview over his refusal to make the records public, Biden said, "There is nothing, they're not there ... The material in the University of Delaware has no personnel files ... but it does have a lot of confidential conversations" with other officials, like the president and foreign dignitaries.
Business Insider reported Thursday that Biden's campaign dispatched operatives to the University of Delaware's library in the past year to look through the documents, which has raised questions over whether they accessed records related to Reade's accusation.
"It's never the crime... it's always the cover-up," said Rivera in reaction to those revelations.
TAMMY BRUCE: WILL DEMOCRATS ADJUST THEIR MOTTO TO 'BELIEVE ALL WOMEN, EXCEPT THIS WOMAN'?
"If it is proven that those records have been tampered with -- I think that would go far toward corroborating these inflammatory allegations by Tara Reade against Joe Biden. I think that these allegations -- if they go another step or two further -- would go far toward cracking the egg around Joe Biden."
In part 1 of the Fox Nation's series, "I am Geraldo, 50 years," the legendary journalist re-visited how his investigative reporting revealed the sickening state of mental health care in America by exposing abuse and neglect at state-run facilities.
Now in part 2, Rivera and his producers and colleagues, like Maury Povich, looked back at the next stage of his career -- a late-night talk show that came to define an era.
On "Good Night America," Rivera would break new boundaries and interview cultural icons from Muhammed Ali to Barbara Walters.
There were dark moments as well, like when Rivera rushed to deliver a report on Ted Koppel's "Nightline" just hours after hearing the gunshots that killed John Lennon.
Watch all of this and more in part 2 of "I am Geraldo, 50 years," available right now on Fox Nation.
LIMITED TIME OFFER, GET YOUR FIRST MONTH OF FOX NATION FOR $0.99
Fox Nation programs are viewable on-demand and from your mobile device app, but only available only for Fox Nation subscribers. Go to Fox Nation to start a free trial and watch the extensive library from Tomi Lahren, Pete Hegseth, Abby Hornacek, Laura Ingraham, Greg Gutfeld, Judge Andrew Napolitano and many more of your favorite Fox News personalities.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox