Tara Reade’s Joe Biden assault claim gives Juanita Broaddrick déjà vu: 'I believe her'
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Juanita Broaddrick is having déjà vu.
Broaddrick, who has long said Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, sees remarkable similarities with Tara Reade’s claims against Joe Biden. Both women accused powerful Democrats of sexual misconduct only to see their claims largely ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media -- so Broaddrick reached out to Reade a few weeks ago, she said.
“I just told her, any time she needed anything or wanted to talk, to call me and she almost immediately called me,” Broaddrick told Fox News. “I believe her. I spoke with her on the phone, we spoke at length… this is a very, very believable woman.”
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Broaddrick said she plans to keep in touch with Reade and they “text every few days,” but seeing her story on television brings back “too many bad memories” about her own history.
Tara Reade and Juanita Broaddrick both accused powerful Democrats of sexual misconduct only to see their claims largely ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media.
Broaddrick famously told NBC’s “Dateline” in 1998 that Bill Clinton had raped her in 1978, but NBC did not air the explosive story until after the Senate acquitted him in February 1999. As for Reade, CNN and The New York Times were both condemned for waiting so long to report her claims against Biden.
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“The mainstream media is so liberal and they’re going to support anybody that’s running against a Republican. They’re going to be there, regardless of what’s been brought up about that person,” Broaddrick said, pointing to the hypocrisy surrounding glowing coverage of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault in 2018.
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“It’s got to get to the point that politics do not play a part in this,” Broaddrick said. “It just depends what side of the aisle they’re on. If they’re against Trump, they’re not going to come out for Tara Reade. And Tara Reade is not a Trump supporter.”
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In recent days, new developments have backed liberal media into a corner. Reade’s former neighbor, and a self-described supporter of Biden, told Business Insider that she was told about the allegations decades ago, and the emergence of a 1993 CNN clip that seemingly featured Reade’s late mother calling in to “Larry King Live” and alluding to her daughter's time working for the then-senator.
“She texted me after the Larry King thing came out and said, ‘Isn’t that great, my momma coming from the beyond,’” Broaddrick said, noting it struck a chord with her personally. “My father died when I was 26 or 27, and I’ve always wondered what he would have done had he been alive when I was raped by Bill Clinton... I was his girl, he was so protective over me.”
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Broaddrick feels that CNN and other mainstream outlets have only started covering Reade’s claims over the last few days because they had no other choice after being accused of journalistic malpractice for ignoring the story once the King clip was unearthed and the neighbor spoke out.
“Just like NBC was finally forced to play my ‘Dateline’ interview,” she said. “They did not want to play that but they waited until after the impeachment to run it.”
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Broaddrick feels that the media did essentially the same thing, noting that actress-turned-activist Alyssa Milano appeared to change her stance on Reade's accusations on Monday after initially standing by Biden.
“She came right out and, immediately, said this was suspicious and felt like Tara Reade was lying. And then she said Tara Reade needs to be heard because she got so much backlash,” Broaddrick said.
Biden’s campaign has vigorously denied Reade’s claims, as Bill Clinton has denied Broaddrick's.
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Broaddrick, a staunch critic of Hillary Clinton, once said she was “overcome with anger” when the former first lady tweeted, “Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported,” back in 2015. Broaddrick couldn’t believe what she witnessed on Tuesday when she tuned in as Hillary Clinton endorsed Biden during a virtual women's town hall without addressing Reade’s allegations.
“You knew that Hillary would probably come out for Biden, but the way that she did it expounding on his virtues was obscene,” Broaddrick said. “She must want to be the vice presidential nominee, no doubt, and I feel like this is just the road to it.”
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Broaddrick joked that a potential slogan for a Biden-Clinton ticket could be, “Vote for Joe, he’s not as bad as Bill.”
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.