Tara Reade slams Biden's ‘hypocrisy,' 'craven rewarding' of former aide who downplayed sex assault claim

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Tara Reade on 'Tucker Carlson Today': Joe Biden 'used his power and resources to silence me'

Tara Reade opens up about allegedly being sexually assaulted by Joe Biden during her time working as a staff assistant while he was in the Senate on 'Tucker Carlson Today.'

Tara Reade is speaking out after a former Biden campaign aide who downplayed her sexual assault allegation against the former vice president in 2020 officially joined the Biden administration this week.

"This is another example of how the Biden administration demonstrates both its hypocrisy and craven rewarding of those that carry water for him publicly," Reade, one of eight women to accuse Biden during the 2020 presidential election of past inappropriate behavior, told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

Adrienne Elrod said on Twitter Monday she will be joining Biden's Department of Commerce as director of external affairs for its new CHIPS program, "working to advance one of @POTUS top priorities: implementing the bipartisan $52b in CHIPS funding Congress passed this year."

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Elrod previously worked in the Bill Clinton White House, as a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s failed 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns and as a top adviser for President Biden’s 2020 campaign. 

During Biden’s presidential campaign, Elrod dismissed calls for him to step out of the race over allegations from Reade that Biden sexually assaulted her when he was a senator in 1993.

Tara Reade. (Darin Hayes Photography)

"It’s silly talk," Elrod told The Washington Post in May 2020. "I think maybe it gives the far left or people who were not supportive of Joe Biden something to hang their hat on. But it’s not realistic."

After Biden denied Reade’s allegations in an MSNBC "Morning Joe" interview, Elrod praised him as coming "across as sincere, genuine and truthful."

"He made it clear, just as he’s done before, that women deserve to have the space to step forward, and to be heard — a refreshing contrast to our current president," she told Axios.

(L to R) Jennifer Tapper, Marc Adelman, Jen Psaki and Adrienne Elrod attend the Elle and Hugo Boss Women in Washington Power List Dinner at the residence of the German Ambassador March 18, 2015, in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Elle)

Reade told Fox News Digital Democrats who ignored her claims against Biden are "complicit" in his behavior.

"The Democrats continue to try to deny I came forward about working for Joe Biden and being sexually harassed and assaulted in 1993 by simply suppressing my history with him," she said. "In my opinion, Ms. Elrod and those that protect Biden by not allowing a proper investigation are not only selling out all survivors for access to power but also are complicit."

In this April 4, 2019, photo, Tara Reade poses during an interview with The Associated Press in Nevada City, Calif. (AP Photo/Donald Thompson)

Elrod also previously defended Biden against a claim by former Nevada Democratic candidate Lucy Flores that he sniffed her hair and kissed the back of her head in 2014.

"He has a very unique ability to connect with people," Elrod said during a 2019 appearance on "Morning Joe," according to The Spectator. "He’s charismatic. He is empathetic and that is a strength and that’s why I think the last few days since this story came out from Lucy Flores, his team has done a really good job playing up some of the former female aides who have worked for him over the years, reinforcing their view of him, which is he is somebody who has always empowered women."

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Elrod's name also surfaced in the news in 2017 after actress Lena Dunham, who worked as a celebrity surrogate on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, accused her of ignoring her warning about disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, who was also a prominent face on the campaign before his rapid downfall in 2017.

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., and Adrienne Elrod, Democratic strategist, appear on NBC News' "Meet the Press" in Washington, D.C. July 31, 2022. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)

Dunham told The New York Times she approached Elrod with her concerns about Weinstein in the summer of 2016, and they went ignored. Weinstein went on to organize a star-studded fundraiser for Clinton that October.

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Elrod previously denied Dunham's characterization of their conversation.

"I certainly don't remember that conversation that way," Elrod said on MSNBC. "I can certainly assure you that I would have come forward ... I don't want to get into private discussions that I had with our surrogates on the campaign, and, by the way, I did run the full surrogate operations, so I had a lot of conversations with a lot of celebrities, a lot of elected officials, a lot of high wattage influencers every single day. I'm certainly not going to divulge those conversations on air, but I also don't recall every single minute of every conversation that I had."

Elrod and the Commerce Department did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.