Great article from one of the most fair and respected news outlets in America.
It's a very long piece but worth reading. Of the 74 they spoke to (62 being women) none said they had heard of anything like this happening and that Biden amongst the women on the hill was seen as one of the "good" ones. Although many acknowledge Biden always had history of personal boundary issues with hugging, touching shoulders, etc.
Some further quotes that were requested to be added to the op:
What 74 former Biden staffers think about Tara Reade's allegations
We spoke to dozens of Joe Biden’s staffers, most of whom were women, to get a broader picture of his behavior toward women throughout his career, how they see Tara Reade’s allegation and whether there was evidence of a larger pattern.
www.pbs.org
Over his decades-long career in the Senate, former Vice President Joe Biden was known as a demanding but fair and family-oriented boss, devoted to his home life in Delaware and committed to gender equality in his office.
He was not on a list of "creepy" male senators that female staffers told each other to avoid in the elevators on Capitol Hill.
The PBS NewsHour spoke with 74 former Biden staffers, of whom 62 were women, in order to get a broader picture of his behavior toward women over the course of his career, how they see the new allegation, and whether there was evidence of a larger pattern.
None of the people interviewed said that they had experienced sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by Biden. All said they never heard any rumors or allegations of Biden engaging in sexual misconduct, until the recent assault allegation made by Tara Reade. Former staffers said they believed Reade should be heard, and acknowledged that their experiences do not disprove her accusation.
"We knew that about Biden," Byrne said. "He was always massaging somebody's shoulders. But never anything more than that. There was no vibe about him."
Many staffers stressed that people frequently gravitate to Biden, as a kind of "comforter-in-chief," and look for an arm around a shoulder or a kiss on the cheek.
However, staffers agree it was not in Biden's nature to gauge social signals about whether someone wanted to be hugged or touched. Many said they learned that he might do so without warning, though most saw it as an endearing quality that wasn't sexual in nature.
"You got to know which senators you didn't want to be on an elevator alone with," said Liz Tankersley, who was Biden's legislative director from 1985 to 1993. "No one ever said Joe Biden was one of them."
It's a very long piece but worth reading. Of the 74 they spoke to (62 being women) none said they had heard of anything like this happening and that Biden amongst the women on the hill was seen as one of the "good" ones. Although many acknowledge Biden always had history of personal boundary issues with hugging, touching shoulders, etc.
Some further quotes that were requested to be added to the op:
Some former staffers told the NewsHour that if Biden did assault Reade in any of these places, it would have been a brazen attack in an area with a high risk of being seen.
"When I worked in the Senate, it was always crowded [and] packed with lobbyists, staff and tourists," said Sheila Nix, who was Biden's chief of staff on the 2012 presidential campaign and previously worked as chief of staff to two other Democratic senators.
In interviews, staffers have also raised doubts about Reade's claim that she was asked to serve drinks at a fundraiser, an incident she said she included in an official complaint of sexual harassment submitted while she worked in the office.
But more than 50 former staffers said they didn't remember ever attending a fundraiser for Biden in Washington, D.C., when they were on his Senate staff. And some recalled an office policy banning most of Biden's Senate staff from doing campaign work.
"Never would have happened," said Melissa Lefko, who was a staff assistant in Biden's office during the time Reade was there. "We all knew there was a very hard line there."
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