On the subject of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, President Biden punted on Sunday.
Unlike a majority of New York’s congressional delegation and its two Senators, President Biden doesn’t think Governor Andrew Cuomo should resign because a probe of the allegations has not concluded.
The governor faces sex-harassment and possibly assault allegations from seven women, some young enough to be his daughter, and also lied to cover up China-Virus deaths in nursing homes.
Cuomo aside, Biden’s comment invited an observation: No one investigated Tara Reade’s claim that Biden sexually assaulted her, and no top Democrat thought Biden should drop from the presidential race because of the allegation.
Flashback
Biden gives Cuomo the benefit of the doubt, Reuters and other media reported: “I think the investigation is under way and we should see what it brings us,” Biden said.
That’s mighty accommodating, but at least the women who accused Cuomo will be heard. Not so for Tara Reade.
Reade, who worked for Biden nearly three decades ago when he was still a senator, claimed Biden assaulted her somewhere on Capitol Hill. The former staffer leveled the charge in March last year, when Biden was still fighting Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination.
Reade had already said Biden inappropriately touched her, but then elaborated on what Biden did in a podcast with a supporter of Sanders. Biden, of course, was already in hot water because of the many women who said he touched, sniffed, and kissed them.
Reade claimed a superior told her to deliver a gym bag to Biden “down towards the Capitol,” and on arriving, the senator pinned her against a wall:
He just had me up against the wall, and the wall was cold….
It happened all at once, the gym bag, I don’t know where it went, I handed it to him, it was gone, and then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes…. He went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers…. He was kissing me at the same time….
He said several things that I can’t remember everything he said. I remember a couple of things…. Do you want to go somewhere else?… When I pulled away, he got finished doing what he was doing, and I … pulled back, and he said, “come on, man, I heard you liked me.”
Biden, she said, was furious that she rejected him. Reade claimed she remembered what Biden said: “You’re nothing to me.”
Six people corroborated Reade’s account, as did her divorce papers. Her mother discussed it on Larry King’s talk show.
The media largely ignored the story; top Democrat women didn’t care.
Reade never received the benefit of an official investigation by competent authorities. The pro-Biden media either reported that her story couldn’t be verified, or called Reade a nutcase and deadbeat.
Reade was soon forgotten. As were Biden’s other accusers. Biden was even accused of grabbing the breast of a Secret Service agent’s girlfriend, and of appearing naked in front of agents. But again, nothing happened to him.
And Biden said he isn’t sorry for anything he’s done. Then again, the non compos mentis president might not be sorry because he can’t remember much of the past — just like he doesn’t remember Reade.
Cuomo Must Go
As for Cuomo, the disgraced governor received more bad news on Friday when New York published an account from a reporter who said Cuomo wouldn’t keep his mitts to himself.
Jessica Bakeman offered a detailed account of Cuomo’s sex harassment. She said Cuomo’s sexual banter and touching were meant to intimidate her, not initiate sex.
Other women say Cuomo’s come-ons were relentless; one says Cuomo sexually assaulted her.
New York Democrats — including U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with the state’s House delegation and a majority in the state legislature, want Cuomo out.
If he refuses to resign, he might well be impeached. Last week, Assembly Democrats authorized an impeachment inquiry after a three-hour meeting.
Cuomo adamantly refuses to resign.
During a conference call with reporters, he called the demands that he resign “reckless and dangerous.”
“Women have a right to come forward and be heard, and I encourage that fully,” he said. “But I also want to be clear: There is still a question of the truth. I did not do what has been alleged, period.”
