NYT Finally Looks Into the Sexual Assault Allegations Against Biden, Their Conclusion (and How It Changes) Is Something Else

FILE- This May 2, 2017, file photo, shows the corporate signage on the headquarters building of The New York Times in New York. The New York Times Co. reports earnings Thursday, May 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

We’ve been wondering when any of the mainstream media was going to investigate the allegations by former Biden staffer Tara Reade of sexual assault by Joe Biden.

The allegations have been floating out there for months now, with barely any coverage by most of the media.

On Friday, as we previously reported, Reade filed a criminal complaint against Biden with the Washington, D.C. Metro Police Department.

Reade alleges that Biden, in 1993, pushed her up against a wall, pulled up her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers.

Last year when several other women came forward and detailed how Biden had allegedly touched them in an inappropriate way, Reade came forward and talked about him touching her shoulders and neck, but she didn’t detail a sexual assault at that time.

The Biden team issued a pro forma denial. “Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communications director said. “We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false.”

Now the New York Times is finally addressing the claim and doing a “deep dive.” But the “deep dive” is pretty darn laughable and reads like an effort to try to clear things out of the way before the general election.

Let’s start with the facts that make it far more credible than the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.

She’s able to say the year it happened and where.

Reade told the incident to a friend at the time, who has confirmed she was told. Reade also told another friend about the incident in 2008, her brother, over the years and her mother who has since died.

The New York Times says that the criminal complaint doesn’t mention Biden by name and that Reade says she also filed a complaint with the Senate at the time which was not located.

The Times did interview some of the other women who made groping allegations last year who said they believed Reade’s story.

The NYT adds an important bit of reporting: Tara Reade said that in retaliation for her complaint, she was moved off of managing interns. The Times found the interns, and they confirmed she suddenly stopped overseeing them. https://t.co/9gkSYF2PkQ

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) April 12, 2020

The Times is actually tougher on President Donald Trump in the story, sticking in a gratuitous what-aboutism attack at the end, inaccurately characterizing his remarks.

But here’s the kicker conclusion of the New York Times story.

No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of our reporting, nor did any former Biden staff corroborate Reade’s allegation. We found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 12, 2020

We didn’t find any pattern…except for this pattern here…

Exactly what does the New York Times think harassment is? They simply toss aside the women who said he groped them/touched them inappropriately. What happened to “believe all women?”

Not to mention — did they miss the reports of swimming naked in front of female Secret Service agents, the story about the kids stroking his legs, and how many creepy videos?

Needless to say, that response got reaction.

If you are really observant, you can detect a subtle difference in the way that the New York Times attempted to destroy and defame Brett Kavanaugh with no evidence and how they move to protect Joe Biden from a former employee's accusation. https://t.co/XR7Jz7HW9h

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 12, 2020

Joe Biden accused of sexual assault by a former Senate staffer who worked for him. This is a huge mess for the Democrats based on the precedent they set in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. There is far more evidence against Biden here than against Kavanaugh: https://t.co/HuXtoyPOwa

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 12, 2020

“The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.”

I’m not sure how that line from the NYT’s long-delayed coverage of Tara Reade’s accusation can sit alongside reporting that 7 other women have accused Biden of sexual misconduct. https://t.co/CoyGuYXObJ

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) April 12, 2020

"We found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable"

What a sentence to write! pic.twitter.com/NVG0qCnoxL

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) April 12, 2020

But then guess what happened? That sentence in the story was stealth-edited out without any explanation and the tweet seems to have disappeared as I’m writing this.

I’m sure there is perfectly logical explanation for this change that nobody at the New York Times will explain. https://t.co/ygS8gwmoRB

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 12, 2020