Tara Reade Biden allegation megathread

[QAnonKelly]

I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like how some red avatars here are just trashing Reade like she came up with an entire event to trash Biden. Now, I'm not saying I believe her fully, but there was some evidence at least her 2019 claim was true, which makes sense given Biden's history in the past, but her original claim which does have some information and evidence backing it up was not directly with Biden, but with his office alone. The way some here are treating Reade is the same was that Republicans treated Kavanaugh and I really feel like that goes into slippery slope territory and I'm not really a fan of this.

It seems likely she has been manipulated by some people to continue to push a narrative against Biden and I'm not excusing her actions here at all. I'm just saying it feels like she probably has some issues she needs to take care of and is being manipulated to take them out on Biden.

Now, we can pretty much dismiss her 2020 story as being made up just to smear Biden and that is a serious issue, I'll agree to that, once this settles down then hopefully the Biden camp will expose the people behind this.

I agree with a lot of this. I think the onus is on people like Halper and Grimm who ran with the story without vetting it. Idk if they did it for personal or political reasons but there’s really no excuse for it.

[GeneralMacArthur]

I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like how some red avatars here are just trashing Reade like she came up with an entire event to trash Biden. Now, I'm not saying I believe her fully, but there was some evidence at least her 2019 claim was true, which makes sense given Biden's history in the past, but her original claim which does have some information and evidence backing it up was not directly with Biden, but with his office alone. The way some here are treating Reade is the same was that Republicans treated Blasey Ford and I really feel like that goes into slippery slope territory and I'm not really a fan of this.

It seems likely she has been manipulated by some people to continue to push a narrative against Biden and I'm not excusing her actions here at all. I'm just saying it feels like she probably has some issues she needs to take care of and is being manipulated to take them out on Biden.

Now, we can pretty much dismiss her 2020 story as being made up just to smear Biden and that is a serious issue, I'll agree to that, once this settles down then hopefully the Biden camp will expose the people behind this.

Edit: switched names

No.  Just no.

She came up with the entire event to trash Biden.  The evidence for this has been overwhelming for weeks.  Every new piece of evidence that has come out has only served to further confirm it.

What is your alternative explanation?  Her story can't be half true.  It's either true or it's not.

"I'm not saying I believe her fully"?  Like you only believe her 80%?  You shouldn't believe her at all.  She is lying.  She is a bigger liar than Donald Trump.  And you should be furious that you were lied to and taken advantage of.

Whether the 2019 story is true or not (it's not) is immaterial.  Nobody cared about that story in 2019 and certainly nobody cares about it in 2020.  It has zero impact on the campaign.  They are two completely different stories.  The issue at question is whether or not she was raped by Joe Biden.  She was not.  Even if the 2019 story was true (it's not), she doesn't get truth-teller brownie points for telling the truth about an entirely unrelated story.  Her phony rape story doesn't become any less of a lie just because she told the truth about something else.  She is a liar and her story is a lie.

The way Fox News Republicans treated Blasey Ford was wrong because there was no evidence that Blasey Ford was lying.  Republicans were simply saying what they wanted to be true.  But Tara Reade is lying.  So treating her like a liar is entirely appropriate.  She should be sued for slander, sued for fraud, sued for perjury, and made to answer for any innocent people she has put in prison with her false testimony.

Tara Reade may have been manipulated by Katie Halper, Ryan Grim and Nathan Robinson.  But that does not absolve her of responsibility!  She is the one who made the decision to invent a rape allegation and level it against Joe Biden.  It's not like Halper/Grim/Robinson plucked a rando off of Twitter and told her what to say.  She came up with the idea, and they coached her on how to maximize its effectiveness.

[Landslide Lyndon]

OMFG! This is like Inception.

https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1263692120176672778

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like how some red avatars here are just trashing Reade like she came up with an entire event to trash Biden. Now, I'm not saying I believe her fully, but there was some evidence at least her 2019 claim was true, which makes sense given Biden's history in the past, but her original claim which does have some information and evidence backing it up was not directly with Biden, but with his office alone. The way some here are treating Reade is the same was that Republicans treated Blasey Ford and I really feel like that goes into slippery slope territory and I'm not really a fan of this.

It seems likely she has been manipulated by some people to continue to push a narrative against Biden and I'm not excusing her actions here at all. I'm just saying it feels like she probably has some issues she needs to take care of and is being manipulated to take them out on Biden.

Now, we can pretty much dismiss her 2020 story as being made up just to smear Biden and that is a serious issue, I'll agree to that, once this settles down then hopefully the Biden camp will expose the people behind this.

Edit: switched names

No.  Just no.

She came up with the entire event to trash Biden.  The evidence for this has been overwhelming for weeks.  Every new piece of evidence that has come out has only served to further confirm it.

What is your alternative explanation?  Her story can't be half true.  It's either true or it's not.

"I'm not saying I believe her fully"?  Like you only believe her 80%?  You shouldn't believe her at all.  She is lying.  She is a bigger liar than Donald Trump.  And you should be furious that you were lied to and taken advantage of.

Whether the 2019 story is true or not (it's not) is immaterial.  Nobody cared about that story in 2019 and certainly nobody cares about it in 2020.  It has zero impact on the campaign.  They are two completely different stories.  The issue at question is whether or not she was raped by Joe Biden.  She was not.  Even if the 2019 story was true (it's not), she doesn't get truth-teller brownie points for telling the truth about an entirely unrelated story.  Her phony rape story doesn't become any less of a lie just because she told the truth about something else.  She is a liar and her story is a lie.

The way Fox News Republicans treated Blasey Ford was wrong because there was no evidence that Blasey Ford was lying.  Republicans were simply saying what they wanted to be true.  But Tara Reade is lying.  So treating her like a liar is entirely appropriate.  She should be sued for slander, sued for fraud, sued for perjury, and made to answer for any innocent people she has put in prison with her false testimony.

Tara Reade may have been manipulated by Katie Halper, Ryan Grim and Nathan Robinson.  But that does not absolve her of responsibility!  She is the one who made the decision to invent a rape allegation and level it against Joe Biden.  It's not like Halper/Grim/Robinson plucked a rando off of Twitter and told her what to say.  She came up with the idea, and they coached her on how to maximize its effectiveness.

The only reason I am not 100% saying she is lying is because I'm not a hypocrite who believes women only when it benefits my ideology. I'm not the one here so obsessed with this story to make long winded posts and make a medium account to post their information.

I've posted over and over again here that her story is most likely false, but I'm not going to say one way or the other until there's definitive proof one way or the other. I'm not going to sit here and attack her either. Hopefully, if there's definitive proof that she is lying, and I'll admit, there does seem to be a lot suggesting she is, then by all means call her out, sue her for defamation at that point I wouldn't care anymore. But I have not seen any evidence it was her herself that came up with this story.

[Sir Mohamed]

I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like how some red avatars here are just trashing Reade like she came up with an entire event to trash Biden. Now, I'm not saying I believe her fully, but there was some evidence at least her 2019 claim was true, which makes sense given Biden's history in the past, but her original claim which does have some information and evidence backing it up was not directly with Biden, but with his office alone. The way some here are treating Reade is the same was that Republicans treated Blasey Ford and I really feel like that goes into slippery slope territory and I'm not really a fan of this.

It seems likely she has been manipulated by some people to continue to push a narrative against Biden and I'm not excusing her actions here at all. I'm just saying it feels like she probably has some issues she needs to take care of and is being manipulated to take them out on Biden.

Now, we can pretty much dismiss her 2020 story as being made up just to smear Biden and that is a serious issue, I'll agree to that, once this settles down then hopefully the Biden camp will expose the people behind this.

Edit: switched names

No.  Just no.

She came up with the entire event to trash Biden.  The evidence for this has been overwhelming for weeks.  Every new piece of evidence that has come out has only served to further confirm it.

What is your alternative explanation?  Her story can't be half true.  It's either true or it's not.

"I'm not saying I believe her fully"?  Like you only believe her 80%?  You shouldn't believe her at all.  She is lying.  She is a bigger liar than Donald Trump.  And you should be furious that you were lied to and taken advantage of.

Whether the 2019 story is true or not (it's not) is immaterial.  Nobody cared about that story in 2019 and certainly nobody cares about it in 2020.  It has zero impact on the campaign.  They are two completely different stories.  The issue at question is whether or not she was raped by Joe Biden.  She was not.  Even if the 2019 story was true (it's not), she doesn't get truth-teller brownie points for telling the truth about an entirely unrelated story.  Her phony rape story doesn't become any less of a lie just because she told the truth about something else.  She is a liar and her story is a lie.

The way Fox News Republicans treated Blasey Ford was wrong because there was no evidence that Blasey Ford was lying.  Republicans were simply saying what they wanted to be true.  But Tara Reade is lying.  So treating her like a liar is entirely appropriate.  She should be sued for slander, sued for fraud, sued for perjury, and made to answer for any innocent people she has put in prison with her false testimony.

Tara Reade may have been manipulated by Katie Halper, Ryan Grim and Nathan Robinson.  But that does not absolve her of responsibility!  She is the one who made the decision to invent a rape allegation and level it against Joe Biden.  It's not like Halper/Grim/Robinson plucked a rando off of Twitter and told her what to say.  She came up with the idea, and they coached her on how to maximize its effectiveness.

The only reason I am not 100% saying she is lying is because I'm not a hypocrite who believes women only when it benefits my ideology. I'm not the one here so obsessed with this story to make long winded posts and make a medium account to post their information.

I've posted over and over again here that her story is most likely false, but I'm not going to say one way or the other until there's definitive proof one way or the other. I'm not going to sit here and attack her either. Hopefully, if there's definitive proof that she is lying, and I'll admit, there does seem to be a lot suggesting she is, then by all means call her out. But I have not seen any evidence it was her herself that came up with this story.

Nobody, or almost nobody, believes Biden solely because of politicial motives. It's more like the story (and Reade herself), that changed multiple times, has credibility issues. If evidence was as strong as against numerous other cases, almost none her would continue to support Biden any more. Depening on strong the case is, neither would the DNC or Dem elected officials.

Analyzing the evidence we have over the assault story, it's fait to say it's a lie. Now, I believe there may have been a siutuation she felt uncomfortable with Biden making complementary comments or he was touchy, but accussing him of assault is still a lie and not an exaggeration. Biden himself probably doesn't remember at all since this kind of behavior was routine for him for all these years, including in interactions with men.

[GeneralMacArthur]

I've posted over and over again here that her story is most likely false, but I'm not going to say one way or the other until there's definitive proof one way or the other. I'm not going to sit here and attack her either. Hopefully, if there's definitive proof that she is lying, and I'll admit, there does seem to be a lot suggesting she is, then by all means call her out. But I have not seen any evidence it was her herself that came up with this story.

What kind of definitive proof do you need?  We have so much now.  At this point Biden could easily win a slander case.

The problem is that every time someone leaves the window open for "this story might be true", that creates the same creeping doubt that we had to deal with in the email saga.  Yeah, it's probably not true... but what if it is?  What if Biden is a rapist?  What if Hillary Clinton sacrificed our national security for her own secret agenda?  People's brains can't deal with probabilities.  If they think there's a chance something is true, they'll start making decisions as though it is true.  This is politics, you have to be binary, you have to be firm.  No.  The story is not true.  Joe Biden did not rape a woman in 1993.  Tara Reade is lying.  Period.

Obviously I've been following this story very closely and it's extremely frustrating to see people still be on the fence about the story, or unwilling to commit to its being false.  Not "most likely false."  False.

[Grassroots]

It's actually so satisfying to see this story go from the hottest thing, and then come crashing burning down three weeks later.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I've posted over and over again here that her story is most likely false, but I'm not going to say one way or the other until there's definitive proof one way or the other. I'm not going to sit here and attack her either. Hopefully, if there's definitive proof that she is lying, and I'll admit, there does seem to be a lot suggesting she is, then by all means call her out. But I have not seen any evidence it was her herself that came up with this story.

What kind of definitive proof do you need?  We have so much now.  At this point Biden could easily win a slander case.

The problem is that every time someone leaves the window open for "this story might be true", that creates the same creeping doubt that we had to deal with in the email saga.  Yeah, it's probably not true... but what if it is?  What if Biden is a rapist?  What if Hillary Clinton sacrificed our national security for her own secret agenda?  People's brains can't deal with probabilities.  If they think there's a chance something is true, they'll start making decisions as though it is true.  This is politics, you have to be binary, you have to be firm.  No.  The story is not true.  Joe Biden did not rape a woman in 1993.  Tara Reade is lying.  Period.

Obviously I've been following this story very closely and it's extremely frustrating to see people still be on the fence about the story, or unwilling to commit to its being false.  Not "most likely false."  False.

That's fine if you want to be so black and white about it. I can't be at that point for now.

[snip]

[snip]

The only reason I am not 100% saying she is lying is because I'm not a hypocrite who believes women only when it benefits my ideology. I'm not the one here so obsessed with this story to make long winded posts and make a medium account to post their information.

I've posted over and over again here that her story is most likely false, but I'm not going to say one way or the other until there's definitive proof one way or the other. I'm not going to sit here and attack her either. Hopefully, if there's definitive proof that she is lying, and I'll admit, there does seem to be a lot suggesting she is, then by all means call her out. But I have not seen any evidence it was her herself that came up with this story.

Nobody, or almost nobody, believes Biden solely because of politicial motives. It's more like the story (and Reade herself), that changed multiple times, has credibility issues. If evidence was as strong as against numerous other cases, almost none her would continue to support Biden any more. Depening on strong the case is, neither would the DNC or Dem elected officials.

Analyzing the evidence we have over the assault story, it's fait to say it's a lie. Now, I believe there may have been a siutuation she felt uncomfortable with Biden making complementary comments or he was touchy, but accussing him of assault is still a lie and not an exaggeration. Biden himself probably doesn't remember at all since this kind of behavior was routine for him for all these years, including in interactions with men.

I mean that's true, she's stated over and over again Biden made her uncomfortable due to his touchy interactions. I don't believe he raped her and never will, there's no evidence for it. I do believe her 2019 story though.

But like I said, I'm just not ready to say she is making this up entirely on her own.

My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

[pppolitics]

Karen Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Antioch University, said in a statement that Reade did not graduate and was never a faculty member. Reade attended Antioch for three academic quarters, in 2000 and part of 2001, the university said.

Reade declined to comment for this story and instead texted a screenshot from a previously published article where she claimed she obtained an undergraduate degree under a special arrangement with a former chancellor of the university, Toni Murdock.

However, university officials conferred with Murdock, an Antioch official told POLITICO, and confirmed that no special arrangement existed.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/tara-reade-biden-expert-testimony-274460

[ProudModerate2]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

How? All I said was in the future, next person to come out with an allegation will be met with, "look what happened with Tara Reade, why should we believe you?" type reactions

[new_patomic]

Immaterial or not, the latest twists and turns in this haven't exactly helped the credibility of her 2019 allegations either.

Not even in the sense of the back and forth over the complaint, though the fact that no record of it seems to exist continues to not be helpful, whatever it ultimately says.

Of course it's only the one coworker, Ben Savage, who has said she had issues fulfilling her duties and suggesting she was fired for performance reasons. That's not something any of her actual superiors have suggested yet. Though there is the circumstantial evidence that she may have had her pay demoted/marked for performance issues.

The biggest problem really is the situation she offered just doesn't seem likely. There's a huge red line between federal congressional staff and campaign work. You can do it, and even be paid for it, but only on your own time, not as part of your official office duties. If it really was the case that his office was blurring those lines, then it's not likely she's somehow the only one who ever got asked to work a fundraiser, or do something that wasn't kosher. There would be others, it would suggest a total lack of institutional control within the office, and would constitute numerous ethics violations even beyond just sexual harassment.

[ProudModerate2]

Karen Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Antioch University, said in a statement that Reade did not graduate and was never a faculty member. Reade attended Antioch for three academic quarters, in 2000 and part of 2001, the university said.

Reade declined to comment for this story and instead texted a screenshot from a previously published article where she claimed she obtained an undergraduate degree under a special arrangement with a former chancellor of the university, Toni Murdock.

However, university officials conferred with Murdock, an Antioch official told POLITICO, and confirmed that no special arrangement existed.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/tara-reade-biden-expert-testimony-274460

So she creates new lies to cover up previous lying, and then these new lies are easily discovered.
Wow.

[ProudModerate2]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

How? All I said was in the future, next person to come out with an allegation will be met with, "look what happened with Tara Reade, why should we believe you?" type reactions

But that's not "all you said." You also included that, basically, because you dont want this to affect future allegations made by other women, you are willing to undermine the truth ("cant dismiss the story") of what actually happened here, and let the innocent be damned (Biden).
That's what your last paragraph sounds like. If not, please clarify.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

How? All I said was in the future, next person to come out with an allegation will be met with, "look what happened with Tara Reade, why should we believe you?" type reactions

But that's not "all you said." You also included, that basically, because you dont want this to affect future allegations made by other women, you are willing to undermine the truth ("cant dismiss the story") of what actually happened here, and let the innocent be damned (Biden).
That's what your last paragraph sounds like. If not, please clarify.

Maybe my phrasing was bad, I'll admit that. What I am saying is, I'm generally just concerned the impact of what Tara is doing will negatively impact future claimants. People will point to this allegation and be less willing to accept what happens to future victims in regards to politicians. I'll flat out admit I don't believe Biden assaulted her or raped her, there's no evidence of it and I never believed it anyway because it's out of Biden's character given his past actions to defend women.  Her 2019 story is more believable than her 2020 story. The more stuff that comes out though makes me even start to doubt her 2019 story.

I guess my main opposition to calling her a liar is that I want to believe her as I want to believe all victims and am concerned someone with an accusation this bad will affect how others see similar cases in the future.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Whether you believe it's true should be independent of the consequences of it being true.

Let's suppose you tell me that if I believe Tara Reade is lying, I'll be exiled to Pluto.

That might change the actions I take based on that belief.  I might hold my tongue, or lie and say I believe her.  But that won't change the fundamentals of what I believe.

Telling me you'll exile me to Pluto doesn't make me more likely to believe her allegation.  It's not like I was 100% sure she as lying, but now that I'll be sent to Pluto for it, I'm only 80% sure.  That's not new information about the case itself.  That's just information about the consequences.

In the same way, the impact her allegation has on the #MeToo movement or future rape victims shouldn't have any influence on whether or not you believe her allegation.  It shouldn't be the case that you'd be 100% sure she's lying in a vacuum, but because of the impact disbelieving her would have on future rape victims, you're only 80% sure.  The consequences have zero impact on the fundamental truth of her story.

[Rookie Yinzer]

Hell, Joe Biden touched me too.

At this point my statement holds the same amount of weight as hers. Let’s move on.

[BlueSwan]

I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like how some red avatars here are just trashing Reade like she came up with an entire event to trash Biden. Now, I'm not saying I believe her fully, but there was some evidence at least her 2019 claim was true, which makes sense given Biden's history in the past, but her original claim which does have some information and evidence backing it up was not directly with Biden, but with his office alone. The way some here are treating Reade is the same was that Republicans treated Blasey Ford and I really feel like that goes into slippery slope territory and I'm not really a fan of this.

It seems likely she has been manipulated by some people to continue to push a narrative against Biden and I'm not excusing her actions here at all. I'm just saying it feels like she probably has some issues she needs to take care of and is being manipulated to take them out on Biden.

Now, we can pretty much dismiss her 2020 story as being made up just to smear Biden and that is a serious issue, I'll agree to that, once this settles down then hopefully the Biden camp will expose the people behind this.

Edit: switched names

I strongly disagree with this.

Falsely accusing somebody of rape is a disgusting crime.

Tara Reade has with 99,9999% certainty falsely accused Joe Biden of rape.

That's really about it.

[wbrocks67]

It's clear as the days go on, Reade's story continues to implode more and more, and her lies continued to get more and more exposed.  This is the very reason why most mainstream publications quickly touched this and moved on. There is no credibility left.

[pppolitics]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

How? All I said was in the future, next person to come out with an allegation will be met with, "look what happened with Tara Reade, why should we believe you?" type reactions

...and that is exactly what should happen

In this country, there is this little thing called due process.

The accused is innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent.

[Landslide Lyndon]

BREAKING! Exclusive photo from the beginning of Tara Reade's career.

[7,052,770]

... My biggest concern with this is people will look back on this story and say this is why we can't take rape allegations seriously and this ends up blowing up in the faces of rape victims. It's why I can't 100% dismiss this story.

This is where you lost me completely.

How? All I said was in the future, next person to come out with an allegation will be met with, "look what happened with Tara Reade, why should we believe you?" type reactions

That will probably happen, but if it does it's Reade's fault, not the fault of those who saw through her story. No innocent person should have to be sacrificed for the movement, not Biden or anyone else.

[JRP1994]

Welcome to another episode of Truth Stretching With Tara!

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1263821971638439937

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1263822328653402113

[pppolitics]

Reade just lost her lawyer.

The lawyer for Tara Reade, the former Senate aide who has accused Joseph R. Biden Jr. of sexual assault, said Friday that he was no longer representing her, just two weeks after taking her on as a client.

The lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, has been a leading plaintiff’s attorney of the #MeToo era. His firm is best known for bringing discrimination cases against Fox News — and its former star host Bill O’Reilly — and Harvey Weinstein, and his presence at Ms. Reade’s side gave her claims added legal heft.

His announced departure came a day after defense lawyers in California said they were reviewing criminal cases in which Ms. Reade served as an expert witness on domestic violence, concerned that she had misrepresented her educational credentials in court.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/politics/tara-reade-credentials.html

[MR DARK BRANDON]

And this thread is 100 pages how?