--- title: Biden: If You Believe Tara Reade You Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me description: Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden said that any voter who believes the sexual assault allegations against him shouldn’t vote for him. canonical: https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-05-15T08:32:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:07.134Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden: Americans Who Believe Tara Reade 'Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me’ og:description: Biden has denied Reade’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 og:url: https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53dbf5bb96c6fd84/698a0e16656a3fafcabda162/joe-biden-tara-reade.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-BIDEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden: Americans Who Believe Tara Reade 'Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me’ twitter:description: Biden has denied Reade’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53dbf5bb96c6fd84/698a0e16656a3fafcabda162/joe-biden-tara-reade.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden Says Americans Who Believe Tara Reade's Assault Allegations 'Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me’ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Former Fox, NBC Host Megyn Kelly Interviews Biden Accuser Tara Reade [Watch (HLS stream): Former Fox, NBC Host Megyn Kelly Interviews Biden Accuser Tara Reade](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8wPjtUbP.m3u8) (2:59)  _Published 2020-05-08. Reade first spoke out about her alleged interactions with Biden in 2019, telling journalists he had touched her inappropriately while she worked on his Senate staff._ by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor May 15, 2020 8:32 AM UTC  Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the First State Democratic Dinner in Dover, Delaware, on March 16, 2019. Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the First State Democratic Dinner in Dover, Delaware, on March 16, 2019. Saul Loeb–AFP/Getty Images by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor May 15, 2020 8:32 AM UTC Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Thursday that any voter who believes the sexual assault allegations against him shouldn’t vote for him. “I think they should vote their heart and if they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me,” Biden said during an interview on MSNBC. “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade.” Biden has denied Reade’s claim that when she worked for his Senate office in 1993, he pushed her against a wall in a Capitol Hill office building, put his hand up her skirt and sexually assaulted her with his fingers. “Look at Tara Reade’s story, it changes considerably,” he said. Biden was referring to Reade’s changing descriptions of the episode in media interviews over the past several weeks. Her narrative has also shifted from her initial claims more than a year ago, when she said Biden touched her shoulders in a way that made her uncomfortable, but didn’t mention an assault. “The truth matters. This is being vetted, it’s been vetted,” Biden said. “This is just totally, thoroughly, completely out of character.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/"},"headline":"Biden Says Americans Who Believe Tara Reade's Assault Allegations 'Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me’","datePublished":"2020-05-15T08:32:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:07.134Z","description":"“I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade,” Biden said in an interview on MSNBC","url":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/","keywords":["2020 Election","wire","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53dbf5bb96c6fd84/698a0e16656a3fafcabda162/joe-biden-tara-reade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53dbf5bb96c6fd84/698a0e16656a3fafcabda162/joe-biden-tara-reade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-BIDEN","caption":"US-POLITICS-BIDEN","creditText":"Saul Loeb–AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/","name":"Biden Says Americans Who Believe Tara Reade's Assault Allegations 'Probably Shouldn’t Vote for Me’"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Former Fox, NBC Host Megyn Kelly Interviews Biden Accuser Tara Reade","description":"Reade first spoke out about her alleged interactions with Biden in 2019, telling journalists he had touched her inappropriately while she worked on his Senate staff.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8wPjtUbP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-05-08T12:06:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8wPjtUbP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/","duration":"PT2M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5837282/joe-biden-tara-reade-dont-vote-for-me/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```