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Despite the growing uproar from many of his progressive supporters over the sexual assault allegation leveled against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has remained quiet on the matter in recent days.
The only time Sanders mentioned the allegation against Biden was earlier this month during an interview with CBS, in which the Vermont lawmaker asserted that “any woman who feels that she was assaulted has every right in the world to stand up and make her claims." But Sanders added that he did not know enough about the claims to comment further.
“I think that she has the right to make her claims and get a public hearing and the public will make their own conclusions about it,” Sanders said. “I just don't know enough about it to comment further. All right.”
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Sanders, who just days before that interview endorsed Biden’s White House bid upon dropping out of the race, has not publicly commented on the matter since. Fox News has reached out on multiple occasions to Sanders campaign officials and political aides, and has yet to receive a response.
The allegation against Biden was made by Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer, who claims that in 1993 she was asked by a more senior member of then-Sen. Biden’s staff to bring Biden his gym bag near the Capitol building, which led to the encounter in question.
“He greeted me, he remembered my name, and then we were alone. It was the strangest thing,” Reade told podcast host Katie Halper. “There was no like, exchange really. He just had me up against the wall.”
She continued: “His hands were on me and underneath my clothes, and he went down my skirt and then up inside it and he penetrated me with his fingers and he was kissing me at the same time and he was saying some things to me.”
Last week, a video emerged from 1993 in which a woman Reade says is her mother appears to allude to the accusation during an interview with CNN’s Larry King.
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In the broadcast, the caller does not mention sexual assault, or the specific details of Reade’s claim, but asks the following question to the panel: "I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him."
Reade has said that the woman’s voice is that of Jeanette Altimus, her late mother.
Reade’s claims have drawn a forceful blowback from many of Sanders' supporters and former aides, with some calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race and accusing Democrats of trying to suppress progressive voices within the party.
Nick Brana, Sanders’ former national outreach coordinator, tweeted over the weekend that the Democratic National Committee should either force Biden to drop out or “admit that suppressing progressives is the true purpose of your party.”
"The video of Tara Reade's late mother calling into Larry King to blow the whistle about about [sic] Tara's sexual assault is being met with relative silence from a cadre of progressives right now and I want you all to know that I see you," former Sanders senior adviser Winnie Wong tweeted. "We all do."
The absence of any comments from Sanders sits in stark contrast to the senator’s vocal admonitions of President Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when sexual assault allegations were raised against them.
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In 2017, Sanders called on Trump to resign from office due to the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against him.
"You've got a president who has been accused by many, many women of harassment, to say the least," Sanders told CNN. "This is a guy who was on a tape seen by everybody in America essentially bragging about his sexual assault of women."
Trump has been accused by at least 18 women of sexual misconduct – which range from unwanted touching to sexual assault – during purported incidents occurring between the late 1980s up until 2013. He has denied the allegations.
Sanders was also one of the most vocal critics during Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was accused by multiple women of sexual assault during his years in high school and college but has denied those allegations. Even after Kavanaugh joined the bench, Sanders called for him to be removed following a New York Times story revealing new sexual misconduct allegations against the Supreme Court justice.
The New York Times’ story, Sanders tweeted, “confirm what we already knew: During his hearing, Kavanaugh faced credible accusations and likely lied to Congress. I support any appropriate constitutional mechanism to hold him accountable."
The relative silence from Sanders, an independent in the Senate who caucuses with the Democrats, on the Biden allegations mirrors that of many top Democrats in Congress.
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Biden’s campaign has adamantly denied the allegations, calling the claim concerning the purported incident decades ago “false.”
“Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims. We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false,” Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager and communications director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement to Fox News.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calf., who endorsed Biden on Monday, has only said that she is “satisfied” with Biden’s response to the accusations.
"I am very much involved in this issue. I always want to give the opportunity that women deserve to be heard. I am satisfied with his answer, yes," she said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has also not commented on the allegation against Biden, while most of the women considered to be on Biden's shortlist for vice presidential picks or the Democratic National Committee have sought to deflect inquiries and instead defend Biden.
“In this case -- and your listeners should look at the story -- there was a thorough review by The New York Times,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told NPR. “I think that's very important to have, especially involving public figures. But I think when I look at -- when I see Vice President Biden, someone I worked with, I see him on -- a leader on domestic abuse -- led the bill before people were even willing to talk about those horrific crimes and has really been a champion of abuses of power against women and has used his voice on the domestic abuse front in such a big way.”
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The spokesperson for another VP short-lister, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said in a statement: "Governor Whitmer believes that it is important that these allegations are vetted, from the media to beyond and that it is something that no one takes lightly. But it is also something that is personal. We will not speculate or provide greater insight, without knowing more about the situation."
The denials or lack of comment from Democrats has also drawn the ire of former Sanders campaign staffers, with 2016 campaign director Tezlyn Figaro telling Fox News that it is a double standard.
"It’s shocking that this much time has passed and that he is an actual nominee for president and they’re not asking the question,” Figaro told “Fox & Friends.” “If this were Donald Trump, would they treat it the same way? If this were Brett Kavanaugh did they treat it the same way? In other words, it’s politics and political agenda playing a role in objective reporting and asking the question.”
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser, Tyler Olson and Andrew Craft contributed to this report.
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