Ari Fleischer: 'Height of hypocrisy' for Biden to criticize new sexual assault rule
Ari Fleischer reacts to a new regulation issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to strengthen protections for college students accused of sexual assault
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said on “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday that former Vice President Joe Biden’s criticism of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new Title IX reforms for how schools and universities handle alleged sexual misconduct is the “height of hypocrisy.”
“What Joe Biden’s saying is ‘These rules about presumed guilt should apply to everybody in society, particularly on a college campus, except for me because I'm Joe Biden and I'm running to be president’ and the Democrats go along with it,” Fleischer said.
DeVos' reforms, which have drawn swift condemnation from top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, include a provision granting the accused the right to "submit, cross-examine and challenge evidence at a live hearing."
The new regulations also include restrictions on the scope of cases colleges are required to investigate and have the force of law.
Biden, who now faces an allegation of sexual assault in 1993 by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, reacted to the new regulations saying, “Trump’s Education Department – led by Betsy DeVos – is trying to shame and silence survivors, and take away parents’ piece of mind.
“It’s wrong and, it will be put to a quick end in January 2021, because as president, I’ll be right where I always have been throughout my career — on the side of survivors, who deserve to have their voices heard, their claims taken seriously and investigated, and their rights upheld,” Biden continued.
“Imagine you have two children. One is named Joe, he’s running for office, and the other is a college student. What you got here is, Joe, the one running for office, did something, allegedly, to a girl and he says, ‘It doesn’t matter. I didn’t do it. Don’t look it my way,’ and the other child is on college campus during the previous administration. That child is already judged to be guilty simply because the accusation is made,” Fleischer, a Fox News contributor, said. “That's basically how it worked on college campuses.
“Joe Biden, the one running for office, he says, ‘Those rules should apply to everybody else, but not me because I'm running for office,’” he continued.
“And the shame of it [in] today’s era is the Democratic Party and much of the media is going along with Joe who is running for office. That’s the hypocrisy of this.
“The simple fact when you step back is the way it's being handled against Joe Biden is the way it always should have been and should be handled,” Fleischer said.
“That when somebody comes out and makes the allegation, the allegation should be taken seriously, but there’s a due process for the person being accused.
“That's what Betsy DeVos is now bringing to college campuses,” he continued. “That is right. That is proper. What’s improper is to be hypocritical about it.”
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He went on to explain that “if any good comes out of this whole thing, maybe society will take a breath when the next accusation is made against anyone and adjudicate it.”
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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