In the weeks after Christine Blasey Ford publicly accused
Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in high school,
she was unable to produce any corroborating, contemporaneous witnesses
to demonstrate that she had mentioned the alleged assault to anyone
-- or even that she had ever met Kavanaugh. In fact, Ford's friend Leland Keyser would expressly contradict
Ford's narrative, saying it "just didn't make any sense." Although Ford
claimed Keyser had attended the 1982 party during which the alleged
assault occurred, Keyser had no recollection of the event or anything
like it, and asserted that it was implausible that Ford couldn't recall
how she had gotten home or where exactly the party had occurred.
Kavanaugh forcefully denied the accusation. Nevertheless, Ford's accusation immediately reverberated
throughout the nation's political landscape and dominated the coverage
of every major media organization. Virtually all Democratic senators called for a serious inquiry, if not Kavanaugh's withdrawal from consideration for the Supreme Court. Later, accusations by Deborah Ramirez and Michael Avenatti client Julie Swetnick, although also uncorroborated, only added fuel to those calls. Now, more than a month after Tara Reade alleged that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her when she worked for him as a staffer, those same Democrats and media outlets are mostly silent. Reade, however, has presented substantially more corroborating evidence than Ford did when she leveled her claims in 2018. Biden himself hasn't addressed the allegation against him, and no one in the media has asked him about it during interviews. Representatives for Biden's campaign have denied the allegations. At
the same time, information has surfaced that has led critics to
question Reade's story, just as Ford's changing narrative threatened to
undercut her testimony. A review of the evidence follows.
The witnesses - Tara Reade
Jeanette Altimus. Reade's
mother called in to CNN's "Larry King Live" on August 11, 1993, during a
program titled “Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?” King introduced a caller from San Luis Obispo, Calif. The Intercept reported
that congressional records "list August 1993 as Reade’s last month of
employment with Biden’s Senate office, and, according to property
records, Reade’s mother, Jeanette Altimus, was living in San Luis Obispo
County." The call did not explicitly reference Biden or sexual
assault, but Reade has said her mother was indeed discussing her
experience with Biden: KING: San Luis Obispo, California, hello. CALLER:
Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the
press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a
prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all,
and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she
chose not to do it out of respect for him. KING: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it? CALLER: That’s true. Lynda LaCasse. Reade's former next-door neighbor, a self-described Biden supporter, came forward this week and spoke on the record with Rich McHugh of
Business Insider. "This happened, and I know it did because I remember
talking about it," LaCasse said, recalling a conversation with Reade
that occurred in either 1995 or 1996. Lorraine Sanchez.
A former co-worker of Reade's also told Business Insider this week that
Reade had mentioned the episode, although without referring to Biden by
name. "[Reade said] she had been sexually harassed by her former boss
while she was in DC," Sanchez told the publication, "and as a result of
her voicing her concerns to her supervisors, she was let go, fired." Collin Moulton and an unnamed friend. Reade's brother has told The Intercept that
Reade mentioned the alleged assault at the time. "Both her brother and
friend also confirmed Reade had told her mother, and that her mother, a
longtime feminist and activist, urged her to go to the police," The
Intercept reported. The New York Times separately reported that
Reade told two unnamed friends about the episode -- one at the time, and
another in 2008. The paper later stealth-edited its story at the request of the Biden campaign. Marianne Baker. The
former executive assistant in Biden's office and a supervisor who would
have received Reade's harassment complaint has come out in defense of
Biden. “In all my years working for Sen. Biden, I never once
witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate
conduct, period -- not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone,” Baker said. “I
have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade’s accounting of
events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman
professional, and as a manager. These clearly false allegations are in
complete contradiction to both the inner workings of our Senate office
and to the man I know and worked so closely with for almost two
decades.” Dennis Toner. Biden's former deputy
chief of staff. Reade said she had complained about feeling
uncomfortable to Toner, but said she did not mention the assault. Toner has called Reade's
claim an "outrageous accusation that's totally untrue." He added, “I
would remember something like this if it ever came up." Ted Kaufman. Biden's former chief of staff. He has remarked: “It never came up. And I sure would have remembered if it did.”
The witnesses - Christine Blasey Ford
Leland Keyser. During the Kavanaugh hearings, a lawyer for Keyser told the Senate Judiciary Committee
that she "does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of
ever being at a party or gathering where he was present." At the same
time, Keyser said she was close friends with Ford since their days at
the Holton-Arms all-girls school in Maryland, and believed her
accusation. “It’s not surprising that Ms. Keyser has no
recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it," one of Ford's
lawyers said. “It’s also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember
attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of
consequence happened to her. Dr. Ford, of course, will never forget this
gathering because of what happened to her there.” However, in
later interviews -- including with Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino,
as well as The New York Times -- Keyser made clear her doubts about
Ford's story ran deeper.
Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary
Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018.
(AP)
“It would be impossible for me to be
the only girl at a get-together with three guys, have her leave and
then not figure out how she’s going to get home,” Keyser said. She added
that she didn't remember parties like the one Ford described, or
spending much time with Georgetown Prep students like Kavanaugh, whom
Keyser said she didn't recall. “Those facts together I don’t
recollect, and it just doesn’t make any sense,” Keyser said -- but she
noted that she had spoken to many people who “wanted me to remember
something different." Hemingway and Severino also reported that Ford's father had supported Kavanaugh's confirmation. Mark Judge. Ford identified Judge as one of her alleged assailants at the party. A self-described NBC News "hot take" at the time touted Judge as a major piece of potential corroboration. "If
you are still inclined to believe that Ford is lying, ask yourself: Why
would she create a defense witness by identifying Mark Judge, who was
and still is indisputably a friend of Kavanaugh’s, as being present and
participating in this attack?" the hot-take author asked. "Why would she
place at the scene an individual who could, because of loyalties to his
friend, contradict her account if she were making this up? She
wouldn’t." However, Judge denied Ford's allegation, and he didn't
provide any support for her claims. When The Washington Post hunted
Judge down at a beach house in Delaware, he said only: "How did you find
me?"
Mark Judge is outside a friend's home in the seaside holiday
village in southeast Delaware. (Photo by Gabriel Pogrund/The Washington
Post via Getty Images)
Details of Judge's memoirs resurface and
appear to show his hard-charging, party-heavy lifestyle, including
episodes in which he drank and was told he behaved aggressively
toward women. The Intercept reported that Kavanaugh's friendship with
Judge undercut his clean image -- but didn't help prove that he engaged in a sexual assault with Judge. Speaking with Fox News, Kavanaugh didn't speak much about his time with Judge. He said: “I
was focused on academics and athletics, going to church every Sunday at
Little Flower, working on my service projects, and friendship with my
fellow classmates and friendship with girls from the local all-girls
Catholic schools.” Ford's ex-boyfriend. In a
written declaration obtained by Fox News, Ford's ex-boyfriend directly
contradicts her testimony that she had never helped anyone prepare for a
polygraph examination. The former boyfriend also said Ford
neither mentioned Kavanaugh nor mentioned she was a victim of sexual
misconduct during the time they were dating from about 1992 to 1998. He
said he saw Ford going to great lengths to help a woman he believed was
her "lifelong best friend" prepare for a potential polygraph test. He
added that the woman, Monica McLean, had been interviewing for jobs with
the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office. He further claimed that Ford
never voiced any fear of flying (even while aboard a propeller
plane) and seemingly had no problem living in a "very small"
500-square-foot apartment with one door -- apparently contradicting her
claims that she could not testify promptly in D.C. because she felt
uncomfortable traveling on planes, as well as her suggestion that her
memories of Kavanaugh's alleged assault prompted her to feel unsafe
living in a closed space or one without a second front door. Ford "never expressed a fear of closed quarters, tight spaces, or places with only one exit," the former boyfriend wrote. However,
Ford testified: "I was hoping to avoid getting on an airplane. But I
eventually was able to get up the gumption with the help of some friends
and get on the plane." She also acknowledged regularly -- and, in her
words, "unfortunately" -- traveling on planes for work and hobbies. And
Ford explicitly told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she had a
second front door installed in her home because of "anxiety, phobia and
PTSD-like symptoms" that she purportedly suffered in the wake of
Kavanaugh's alleged attack at a house party in the 1980s -- "more
especially, claustrophobia, panic and that type of thing."
Changing narratives - Tara Reade
Last
year, Reade told The Washington Post that Biden had "touched her neck
and shoulders but did not mention the alleged assault or suggest there
was more to the story," the paper reported. Reade
called Biden “a male of his time, a very powerful senator, and he had
people around saying it was okay.” Reade told The Associated Press that
Biden had “rubbed her shoulders and neck” and “played with her hair,"
echoing the accusations of many other women at the time. However, Reade did not explicitly mention that Biden had penetrated her with his fingers, as she did in a podcast released March 25. Additionally, Reade
said that in 1993 she filed a complaint "with a congressional human
resources or personnel office," but again, the complaint referred to
harassment at work and not Biden's alleged sexual assault. Reade has called on Biden to release the records from his 36 years as a senator, which are currently inaccessible to the public and are kept at the University of Delaware. "I'm
calling for the release of the documents being held by the University
of Delaware that contain Biden's staff personnel records because I
believe it will have my complaint form, as well as my separation letter
and other documents," Reade told Fox News on Tuesday. "Maybe if other
staffers that have tried to file complaints would come to light -- why
are they under seal? And why won't they be released to the public?"
Changing narratives - Christine Blasey Ford
Ford told The Washington Post that
there were a total of "four boys at the party" where the alleged
episode occurred, and that two -- Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge --
had been in the room during her attack. She said that her therapist had
made an error by indicating she had told him in 2012 that all four boys
had been involved in attacking her. (Ford first mentioned the alleged
assault decades later, in 2012 therapy sessions.) Those boys purportedly included Kavanaugh, Judge, and another classmate, Patrick Smyth -- all of whom have since denied to
the Senate Judiciary Committee, under penalty of felony, any knowledge
of the particular party in question, as well as any misconduct by
Kavanaugh. Keyser, who has never been describable as "boy," has since been identified by Ford as the fourth witness at the party. However,
in Ford's letter to Feinstein in July 2008, she gave a different tally,
writing instead that the party "included me and 4 others." Under oath,
Ford for the first time mentioned that a fourth boy was at the party,
but that she could not remember his name. Ford refused to turn
over notes from her 2012 therapy sessions in which she claimed to have
discussed her alleged sexual assault decades ago. Ford claimed she could
not say definitively whether she had shared those notes with The
Washington Post just two months earlier, as opposed to describing them
abstractly. The Post wrote that it had reviewed a "portion" of Ford's
notes.
Motivations - Tara Reade
In 2017, Reade retweeted posts praising Biden's efforts to combat sexual assault. In 2018, Reade wrote a Medium post unreservedly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. The post, titled, “Why A Liberal Democrat Supports Vladimir Putin,"
contains such lines as "President Putin has an alluring combination of
strength with gentleness. His sensuous image projects his love for life,
the embodiment of grace while facing adversity. It is evident that he
loves his country, his people and his job.” The piece also asserts
that “President Putin’s obvious reverence for women, children and
animals, and his ability with sports is intoxicating to American women." Later that year, Reade wrote:
"President Putin scares the power elite in America because he is a
compassionate, caring, visionary leader.” Notably, Reade writes that she
left Washington, D.C. because she was disenchanted with U.S.
imperialism and “love[d] Russia with all her heart," although in 2009,
she had written that she left D.C. because her husband received a job offer elsewhere.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a fan in Tara Reade, although
her praise for Putin came decades after she reportedly told friends
about an alleged sexual assault. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin
Pool Photo via AP)
In 2019, Reade continued the praise for Putin: "When
the anti-Russia, anti-Putin propaganda starts up, personally, I shut
down. I love Russia, I love my Russian relatives and friends. And like
most women across the world, I like President Putin… a lot, his shirt on
or shirt off." Reade also defended Putin when a Twitter user
mentioned that he apparently kills journalists, asking: "Have you
examined objective evidence?" While the written pieces and tweets
came decades after witnesses said Reade first reported Biden's alleged
sexual assault, they nevertheless raised eyebrows from critics in the
wake of Russian election interference efforts. Additionally, Reade
first made her accusation on a pro-Bernie Sanders podcast. Reade,
however, has reposted several articles on Twitter that are favorable to
both Biden and Sanders.
Motivations - Christine Blasey Ford
Although
Ford left little social media footprint by the time she went public
with her allegations, several indicators surfaced that she would not
have otherwise supported Kavanaugh's confirmation -- already a
hot-button issue, given that it threatened to swing the balance of the
court to the conservative side amid tense debates over abortion and
other issues. Ford is a registered Democrat, and her lawyers during the Kavanaugh hearings -- Debra Katz and Lisa Banks -- are longtime Democrat operatives. They were recommended by Feinstein and are longtime contributors to Democrats, ranging from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton. Katz was even videotaped attending a left-wing rally and yelling, “We are going to resist. We will not be silenced.” In
2019, Katz admitted that Ford was motivated to come forward in part by a
desire to tag Kavanaugh's reputation with an "asterisk" before he could
start ruling on abortion-related cases. In comments at the University of Baltimore’s 11th Feminist Legal Theory Conference,
entitled "Applied Feminism and #MeToo," Katz stated: “In the aftermath
of these hearings, I believe that Christine’s testimony brought about
more good than the harm misogynist Republicans caused by allowing
Kavanaugh on the court. ... He will always have an asterisk next to his
name. When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we
know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is
important." "It is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine," Katz said. Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
The coronavirus has killed nearly 70 veterans at an elder care facility in Massachusettes, in what's being described as the deadliest known outbreak at a long-term care facility in the U.S. An
additional 82 veterans and 81 employees have also tested positive for
the virus at Holyoke Soldiers' Home, and federal officials are trying to
determine whether residents were denied proper medical care as deaths
continue to climb. “It’s horrific,” said Edward Lapointe, whose
father-in-law lives at the home and had a mild case of the virus. “These
guys never had a chance.” The
outbreak has now claimed the lives of nearly one-third of all residents
at the veterans' home, with a new fatality being reported almost every
day.
Cleaners unwrap their protective gear as they leave the Soldiers'
Home in Holyoke, Mass on March 29. Nearly 70 residents have died from
the coronavirus at the central Massachusetts home for aging veterans, as
state and federal officials try to figure out what went wrong in the
deadliest outbreak at a long-term care facility in the U.S. (Jessica
Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via AP, File)
With limited staffing, workers were forced to
routinely travel to other units in order to provide help, which caused
the virus to spread at an extremely high rate, according to Joan Miller,
a nurse at the home. Some workers were without personal protective
equipment (PPE), the Boston Globe reported. She added that an
entire unit was forced to shut down because it didn't have enough
employees to run it, forcing veterans into close proximity with those
uninfected. "Veterans were on top of each other. We didn’t know
who was positive and who was negative and then they grouped people
together and that really exacerbated it even more,” said Miller. “That’s
when it really blew up." Many of the veterans were at an age that
made them susceptible to severe illness from the virus. Before the
outbreak, about one-third of residents were 90 or older and needed
round-the-clock care, the paper reported. Only 106 residents
remained as of Monday, according to Brooke Karanovich, a spokeswoman for
Health and Human Services -- leading some to believe the worst is over.
Flags and wreaths honor veterans April 28 on the grounds of the
Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Mass., where a number of people died due to
the coronavirus. While the death toll at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers'
Home continues to climb, federal officials are investigating whether
residents were denied proper medical care while the state's top
prosecutor is deciding whether to bring legal action. (AP Photo/Rodrique
Ngowi)
In late March, there were roughly 230 residents living at the home. Forty-three residents have since been hospitalized. “We’ve
mostly contained the crisis, but we have such a small number so that’s
almost expected,” Miller added, according to the paper. The crisis
has prompted investigations by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker,
Attorney General Maura Healey, and the federal Department of Justice’s
Civil Rights Division, the Boston Globe reported. The
superintendent of the veterans' home, Bennett Walsh, has been placed on
administrative leave following the outbreak. He's accused state
officials of falsely claiming they were unaware of potential problems. Earlier
this month, he said they knew the home was in “crisis mode” when it
came to staffing shortages and were notified early and often about the
contagion at the facility. Beth Lapointe said her father's
roommate tested positive for the virus in March -- and later died -- but
her father was initially denied a test because he didn't show any
symptoms. As the virus spread, family members were kept in the dark
about what was going on inside, she said. “Every day I would ask different people, ‘What’s going on in there?' And I would never get information,” she said. There
is currently no official count of nursing home deaths across the
country. The federal government has only recently required the nation’s
more than 15,000 nursing homes to start reporting numbers of confirmed
and presumed deaths and infections, but it is not yet clear when that
count will be published. The Associated Press contributed to this report
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related
restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating
the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.” The
memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s
civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and
local policies and take action if needed. “If a state or local
ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to
stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of
constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may
have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.” Barr’s memo comes about two weeks after the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in
a civil case in Mississippi, siding with a Christian church where local
officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants
sitting in their cars in the parking lot. The directive also
comes as many stay-at-home orders are set to expire and governors eager
to rescue their economies are moving to ease restrictions meant to
control the spread of the coronavirus, even as new hot spots emerge and
experts warn that moving too fast could prove disastrous. At the
same time, protesters have staged demonstrations against stay-at-home
orders, and in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has urged supporters
to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors.
Attorney General William Barr speaks to reporters at the Justice
Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, to announce results of
an investigation of the shootings at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in
Florida. On Dec. 6, 2019, 21-year-old Saudi Air Force officer, 2nd Lt.
Mohammed Alshamrani, opened fire at the naval base in Pensacola, killing
three U.S. sailors and injuring eight other people. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
Trump was asked at Monday's coronavirus briefing about the strategy behind the decision by the Justice Department. “Well,
you’d have to ask Attorney General Barr, but I think he wants to see —
like everybody, he wants to see people get back and he wants to see
people get back to work,” Trump said. “He doesn’t want people to be held
up when there’s no reason for doing it. In some cases, perhaps it’s too
strict. He wants to make sure people have the rights and they maintain
the rights, very importantly.” The
Justice Department argued in the Mississippi filing that officials in
Greenville appeared to be targeting religious conduct by singling
churches out as the only essential service, as designated by the state
of Mississippi, that may not operate despite following all Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and state recommendations regarding
social distancing. In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt
last week, Barr said the Justice Department could support legal action
against states that impose strict measures as the number of coronavirus
cases begins to subside. “The idea that you have to stay in your
house is disturbingly close to house arrest,” Barr said. “I’m not saying
it wasn’t justified. I’m not saying in some places it might still be
justified. But it’s very onerous, as is shutting down your livelihood.” Barr
said he believes there is a sufficient basis for social distancing
rules that have been put in place, but he has cautioned that there may
be concern if the restrictive measures continue too long. He has said
the U.S. must find a way to allow business to adapt and reopen. “I
think we have to allow people to figure out ways of getting back to
work and keep their workers and customers safe,” Barr said in an
interview with Fox News earlier this month. “I’m not suggesting we stop
social distancing overnight. There may come a time where we have to
worry less about that.” For
most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as
fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some,
especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can
cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast
majority of people recover.
Donald
Trump is now fed up with the daily White House briefings that became
the centerpiece of his presidency in the coronavirus era. He
bragged about the “Bachelor”-level ratings, enjoyed targeting
opponents--especially network reporters--and, along with his team of
advisers, would let the sessions run for as long as two hours. In
the process, Trump brushed off increasingly urgent advice from his own
allies that the briefings were hurting him as they became a marathon of
mixed messages, clashes with medical experts and bitter exchanges with
journalists. That
advice reached a crescendo after Trump mused about finding a cure
involving injecting disinfectant or ultraviolet light into the body,
followed by a White House statement accusing the media of taking him out
of context, followed by his declaration that his comments had been
purely sarcastic. I’ve seen plenty of instances where the press
has taken joking or tongue-in-cheek lines from Trump and blown them way
out of proportion. This wasn’t that. The reaction was so negative that
federal health experts, state and local officials, and even Lysol,
rushed out statements telling Americans not to inject bleach. And that led to this Saturday tweet in which the president abruptly changed strategy while blaming the press: “What
is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the
Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses
to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, &
the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time &
effort!” That came after Trump took no questions at the Friday
briefing, and the Saturday and Sunday pressers--a staple of cable news
since mid-March--were canceled. So it appears, at the very least, the
briefings are being cut back. The irony is that liberal
commentators at MSNBC, CNN and elsewhere have been insisting that their
networks and Fox stop airing the news conference because they view Trump
as peddling lies and misinformation. Now he’s using them as
justification for holding fewer briefings. To say that Trump has
gotten “nothing but hostile questions” simply isn’t true. There’s no
shortage of grandstanding in the briefing room, but many of the
questions challenge his policies on matters like testing and
ventilators, as well as why he didn’t move more quickly in some areas.
The president seemed to relish these battles. And the disinfectant
business didn’t start with a reporter, but with Trump speculating with
two members of his task force. In tennis, that’s called an unforced
error. “When will all of the ‘reporters’ who have received Noble
Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been
proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side that committed
the crimes), be turning back their cherished ‘Nobles’…” And yes, beyond
the misspelling, he must have meant Pulitzer Prizes. And then he invoked the sarcasm defense again: “Does
anybody get the meaning of what a so-called Noble (not Nobel) Prize is,
especially as it pertains to Reporters and Journalists? Noble is
defined as, ‘having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral
principles and ideals.’ Does sarcasm ever work?” Usually not when you have to explain it after the fact. The
president also hit the Washington Post after his press secretary
complained that her quote was buried in one story: “They are one of the
worst in the ‘news’ business. Total slime balls!” And
he reprised his complaint against Fox News for being politically
correct by covering Democrats: “They are being fed Democrat talking
points, and they play them without hesitation or research. They forgot
that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn’t let @FoxNews participate, even a
little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates...” Actually it was
the Democratic National Committee, not rival networks, that froze out
Fox, only to see most of the candidates do town hall forums on the
network. Trump also lambasted the New York Times
over a story that described him showing up in the Oval Office as late
as noon, “usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of
television.” The Twitter rebuttal: “I work from early in the
morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many
months...and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my
work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who
knows nothing about me.” That wasn’t all, The White House worked with the New York Post
on a knockdown piece, granting access to such officials as chief of
staff Mark Meadows, who said “the biggest concern I have as a new chief
of staff is making sure he gets some time to get a quick bite to eat. I
can tell you that he will go back in and have a lunch just off the Oval
Office and more times than not it is interrupted by several phone
calls.” I have no doubt the president works hard. I have no doubt
that he is his best messenger. I have no doubt that beating up on the
press revs up his supporters. And I know that Trump never goes
dark for long. Soon after canceling yesterday’s coronavirus briefing, he
held a solo Rose Garden news conference--in the same time slot--and
sparred with reporters on a wide array of subjects.
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera,
the former CNBC anchor who is taking on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
in the primary, said in an interview published Monday that the “Squad”
member was wrong to vote against the latest coronavirus stimulus package. Caruso-Cabrera,
a registered Democrat and descendant of Cuban immigrants, told Yahoo
Finance that Ocasio-Cortez's vote against the $484 billion package is
proof that she is fundamentally out of touch with her constituents in
New York's 14th Congressional District. “If she really cared, she would’ve come home after that last vote,” Caruso-Cabrera told Yahoo.
“If she really cared, she wouldn’t drive away 25,000 jobs like she did.
If she really cared, she wouldn’t be telling the poorest people in her
district not to go back to work like she did earlier this week. She’s
out of touch to tell people who are desperate for food that they
shouldn’t go back to work. How out of touch can you be?” The
progressive lawmaker said the bill left out any real aid for Americans
struggling to pay rent or purchase necessities including food after
being left jobless or stranded due to the virus. "My concern is
that we are giving away the farm," Ocasio-Cortez said at the time. "I
cannot go back to my communities and tell them to just wait for CARES
four because we have now passed three, four pieces of legislation that's
related to coronavirus. And every time it's the next one, the next one,
the next one, and my constituents are dying." Ocasio-Cortez was criticized in the New York Daily News’ editorial page for being the only Democrat to vote against the bill. “Not the kind of distinction a rising star legislator should be proud of,” the paper wrote. Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. walks to the House Chamber to
vote on the nearly $500 billion Coronavirus relief bill on Capitol
Hill, Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Both the House and Senate are scheduled to return to session next Monday, as coronavirus stay-at-home orders remain for the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. And that’s not sitting well with some lawmakers. “People
are still scared,” said one senior congressional source about the
return. “There is still apprehension among lawmakers about returning to
the National Capital Region.” As word trickled out from Capitol Hill on Monday
about lawmakers returning in earnest, a number of senior aides from
both sides of the aisle blasted the decision – if for no other reason
that there was no master plan on how the reopening would work. There
are questions about exactly what Congress would “do” when it came back.
The next “Phase 4” coronavirus bill is not ready yet. Many Senate
Republicans argue that Congress must return to address coronavirus. But
those same members are skittish of passing another bill, costing
hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions – to combat
coronavirus. “We’re risking ourselves to vote on confirmation? A
Commissioner for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)?” asked one
senator who asked to not be identified. “There are questions about the
validity of this.”
The Senate’s vote on Monday is to confirm Robert Feitel to serve on the NRC.
Fox
News is told the House is looking at conducting one “suspension” vote
on Monday and then limited floor activity for the balance of next week. A
senior source indicated that some House committees will met. Besides
that, no one has a semblance of a schedule. Are members going to
require aides to come in? Congress is basically comprised of 535 CEOs.
And, in this case, 535 public health commissioners. Every office is
going to decide on their own if aides return to work – in notoriously
cramped Capitol Hill offices.
“We’re
talking about 20,000 people who work on Capitol Hill,” said John
Lawrence, the former chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif. “You’re talking about thousands and thousands of people who are
traveling the country, being exposed to people from all over the
country. They need a much higher level of health security that can
really be provided in a Capitol Hill environment.”
It’s possible that Congress “returning to work” is really just a shadow
play or window dressing. An effort to “look” like Congress is back –
even though its members don’t have major legislative items teed up yet.
After all, Capitol Hill is often about the optics. And the concerns are
extensive about the collective wisdom of bringing the House and Senate
back to session.
“I don’t know how many times the Office of
the Attending Physician has sent out messages about masks. And yet not
everybody is wearing them,” groused one senior Congressional staffer.
“People don’t read what you send them to read.” So what does Congress look like when it comes back? What safety precautions are in place? Or is it business as usual? “Fear drives a lot of people,” said one Capitol Hill source. “It takes a while for a rational answer to sink in.”
When
Christine Blasey Ford publicly accused Supreme Court Associate Justice
Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault in a September 2018 interview
with The Washington Post, prominent Democrats and media organizations
rushed to the story -- demanding answers and, in many cases, the end of
Kavanaugh's career. In the weeks after Tara Reade publicly charged in a podcast
released March 25 that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993,
however, those same politicians and outlets have become either silent or
equivocal -- even as mounting video and testimonial evidence corroborates Reade's claim, where Ford presented no contemporaneous support for her allegations. A
Fox News chronology, beginning the day of each accusation, shows the
extent to which Reade's claims have been handled differently from
Ford's. Fox News has reached out to Democratic lawmakers for
comment about Reade, but has not heard back. Similarly, not a single
Democratic senator responded when The Daily Caller gave each lawmaker 24 hours to provide comment on Reade's allegations.
Day 1
SEPT. 16, 2018 Within
minutes of The Washington Post's story outlining Ford's claim that
Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party more than three
decades earlier, The New York Times immediately publishes
a story stating that Kavanaugh's nomination was "in turmoil." Ford
presents no independently verifiable evidence that she had ever met
Kavanaugh. CNN also reports the news immediately with an article. And another (likening the news to the Anita Hill testimony). And another (describing the White House as mounting an "intense" effort to squash the accusation.) And another (describing a senator's assessments of how Kavanaugh's nomination would go forward). And another (describing how Democrats would push for a delay in Kavanaugh's confirmation vote.) Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announces her opposition to Kavanaugh.
“Supreme Court justices should not be an extension of the Republican
Party," she says. "They must also have unquestionable character and
integrity, and serious questions remain about Judge Kavanaugh in
this regard, as indicated in information I referred to the FBI.”
(Feinstein had first received Ford's accusations weeks earlier, but
chose not to release them until after Kavanaugh's initial
confirmation hearings had concluded.) Other Democratic lawmakers follow Feinstein's lead. MARCH 25, 2020 “It happened all at once, and then … his hands were on me and underneath my clothes,” Reade tells podcast host Katie Halper.
“He said ‘come on, man, I heard you liked me. For me, it was like,
everything shattered … I wanted to be a senator; I didn’t want to sleep
with one.” Reade was a Senate staffer for Biden at the time. Reade says she
told her brother, Collin Moulton, as well as her mother and a friend
about the incident at the time. Both Moulton and the friend confirmed
Reade's account in interviews with The Intercept.
(Reade's mother has died, but footage has emerged showing her calling
into CNN at the time with a story about her daughter's problems with a
prominent senator.) Meanwhile, CNN wonders, "Why
is Bernie Sanders still running for president?" The Reade claim is not
mentioned on the network, either on-air or online. The New York Times publishes a story
explaining that Biden was growing "impatient" with the idea of more
debates with Bernie Sanders. The Reade claim is not mentioned anywhere
in the paper, which had slammed Republicans in August 2018 for "covering up" Kavanaugh's "past." The Intercept reports that
a darling of the "Me Too" movement, the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund,
refused to help Reade with legal expenses, citing Biden's presidential
run and its nonprofit status.
Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary
Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018.
(Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
Day 2
SEPT. 17, 2018 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calls for
an FBI background investigation into the claims against Kavanaugh. "We
need the FBI to step forward to ensure that the Senate and American
public have complete information about this troubling alleged incident
before a hearing is held,” Schumer says. CNN calls the Ford accusation a "watershed moment for the GOP." The Huffington Post runs a story
quoting Biden as saying, "Women’s Claims Of Sexual Assault Should Be
Presumed To Be True." Biden remarks: "For a woman to come forward in the
glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the
presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is
real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it’s been made
worse or better over time. ... But nobody fails to understand that this
is like jumping into a cauldron.” MARCH 26, 2020 Jimmy Kimmel interviews Biden, and the two discuss "Where's Waldo?" Kimmel does not ask Biden about Reade's accusation. Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, touts a "Green New Deal." He accuses Republicans of "refusing to admit" that "climate change is real." CNN teases an upcoming CNN town hall with Joe Biden. The Reade accusations are not discussed on-air in the network's preview coverage.
Day 3
SEPT. 18, 2018 Kavanaugh's nomination officially "descends into chaos," CNN reports. The New York Times publishes an op-ed
from Anita Hill, who argues: "With the current heightened awareness of
sexual violence comes heightened accountability for our
representatives." Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, tells all men to "shut up" -- and suggests Kavanaugh doesn't deserve due process because of rulings that she perceives as pro-life. MARCH 27, 2020 CNN's Anderson Cooper does not ask Biden about Reade's claims in a lengthy virtual town hall. In its writeup of the event, CNN assures readers, "Joe Biden: He's just like the rest of us." "We
sit on our back porch and they sit out on the lawn with two chairs,"
the network says of Biden and his wife Jill. "They talk through
everything that's happened during their day now that they are home from
school, who's driving who crazy." The Huffington Post covers Reade's claim. The outlet notes, "Last April, Reade was one of eight women to accuse
the former vice president of inappropriate touching." The articles goes
on to observe, however, that when she first accused Biden of
inappropriate touching, Reade was "accused of being politically
motivated and called a Russian operative after a Medium post in which
she praised Russia and its president Vladimir Putin resurfaced." Reade
has said she did not initially outline the full extent of Biden's
alleged sexual assault, including digital penetration, out of
embarrassment.
Day 4
SEPT. 19, 2018 The Guardian reports
that Christine Ford's life has been "turned upside down" by her
accusation, noting that she has received threats. The paper does not
note that Kavanaugh and his family, as well as Republican senators, also
had received threats to their lives. MARCH 28, 2020 The Guardian laments:
"It hugely frustrating to see conservatives, who couldn’t give a damn
about the multiple sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump,
weaponize the accusations against Biden. However, it’s also frustrating
to see so many liberals turning a blind eye. The accusations against the
former vice-president are serious; why aren’t they being taken
seriously?"
LGBT supporters gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court,
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in Washington. The Supreme Court is set to hear
arguments in its first cases on LGBT rights since the retirement of
Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy was a voice for gay rights while his
successor, Brett Kavanaugh, is regarded as more conservative. (AP
Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Day 12
SEPT. 27, 2018 South
Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham erupts, accusing Democrats of
orchestrating "the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics." “What
you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open, and
hope you win in 2020,” Graham says, before turning to Kavanaugh. "Are you a gang rapist?" Graham asks sarcastically, referring to an unsubstantiated accusation by Michael Avenatti client Julie Swetnick. The New York Times describes Kavanaugh and Graham's behavior as a typical display of "white male anger." (Guy
Benson, a Townhall.com political editor and Fox News contributor,
tweeted this week that a "non-conservative" contact in the media had
messaged him to belatedly praise Graham's comments. "I thought he was a
loon" to say the Kavanaugh hearings were all about power, the source
said. "In reality he was right all along.") APRIL 5, 2020 A self-described movie enthusiast posts a transcript of Reade's claims on a message board. CNN and The New York Times have not yet mentioned Reade's story. Alyssa Milano suddenly embraces due process.
Day 16
OCT. 1, 2018 The New York Times embarks on a deep dive,
reporting that Kavanaugh was once questioned by police after a bar
fight in 1985. A police report even said Kavanaugh "threw ice at another
patron." Meanwhile, the ex-boyfriend of Julie Swetnick, the third woman to make uncorroborated, lurid allegations of
sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, tells Fox News exclusively that
she had threatened to kill his unborn child and at times even bizarrely
asked him to hit her. "Right after I broke up with her, she basically
called me many times and at one point she basically said, 'You will
never, ever see your unborn child alive,'" Richard Vinneccy says on "The
Ingraham Angle." According to Vinneccy, Swetnick told him at the time, 'I'm just going to go over there and kill you guys.'" APRIL 9, 2020 Reade files a criminal complaint with the Washington, D.C. police, alleging that she was sexually assaulted in 1993.
Day 18
OCT. 3, 2018 It
is widely reported that Leland Keyser, Ford's lifelong friend and a
supposed witness at the party in which Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted
Ford, doesn't back Ford's account. Later, Keyser would say
that much of Ford's account didn't make "any sense," including how Ford
couldn't remember how she got home from the party. Keyser would also
say she was pressured by Ford associates at the time to change her story
to corroborate Ford's account. “I was told behind the scenes that
certain things could be spread about me if I didn’t comply,” Keyser
told The New York Times. “I don’t have any confidence in the story." With Keyser's statement, it becomes clear that no one can contemporaneously corrobotate Ford's story. Meanwhile, protesters let out a collective "STOP KAVANAUGH" scream at a protest in Brooklyn. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, assures demonstrators in Washington: "This isn’t about politics or anything else." A Democratic aide is arrested, and would later be convicted, in a scheme to dox Republican lawmakers who support Kavanaugh by revealing their personal information online. APRIL 12, 2020 The Times covers Reade's
accusations, and makes sure to note that Reade could face criminal
penalties if she filed a false police report. Attempting to explain why
the Times waited so much longer to report on Reade's accusation, Times
executive editor Dean Baquet claims that
"Kavanaugh was already in a public forum in a large way" -- although he
does not explain why that logic did not apply to Biden, who was sealing
up the Democratic Party's nomination for president when Reade went
public with her claim. The Times piece focuses on unrelated sexual
misconduct accusations against President Trump, and largely dismisses
Reade's allegations as uncorroborated by her co-workers -- even though
the Times notes later in its piece that Reade's claim was
contemporaneously corroborated by two of Reade's friends. Baquet would also admit the
story was edited after publication at the request of the Biden campaign
to remove a reference to Biden's past history of inappropriate
touching. No notation in the story indicates that it was edited. According to a copy of the Times' article saved
by the Internet archive Wayback Machine, the Times originally reported:
"No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of
reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any
details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual
misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women
previously said made them uncomfortable." After the Biden campaign's request, the paragraph now reads:
"No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of
reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any
details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual
misconduct by Mr. Biden." "Another good day not to be the NYT public editor," muses the paper's former public editor, Margaret Sullivan. Later in the day, The Washington Post also covers Reade's claims for the first time. Both the Post and the Times mention accusations against President Trump. Actress-turned-activist Rose McGowan quickly slams the Washington Post, saying its article was “not journalism” and constituted “victim shaming.” ABC and CBS News, among other networks, mention Reade's claims shortly afterward, also for the first time.
Day 21
OCT. 6, 2018 Anti-Kavanaugh protesters bang on the walls of the Supreme Court to protest his confirmation. APRIL 15, 2020 The Washington Post openly struggles with Reade's claims: "What to make of former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade’s allegations that
the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee sexually assaulted her
in 1993?" writes the paper's deputy editorial page editor, Ruth
Marcus. "This is a difficult and important question — not least for
those who were persuaded by Christine Blasey Ford’s assertion that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were high school students in the 1980s." Marcus
goes on to admit that "we all suffer from the inclination, whether
knowing or unknowing, to assess evidence through the lens of preexisting
biases." CNN, two days later, notes that Democrats were "grappling" with the Biden accusations -- a common framing seemingly employed by left-of-center outlets to avoid directly discussing the allegations.
Day 30
OCT. 15, 2018 The Guardian reports that witches are planning to hex Kavanaugh. APRIL 24, 2020 A resurfaced clip of "Larry King Live" from 1993 appears to include the mother of Tara Reade -- who has accused Joe Biden of past sexual assault while in the Senate -- alluding to “problems” her daughter faced while working as a staffer for the then-U.S. senator from Delaware. But
rather than CNN's team of investigative reporters, it was the Media
Research Center’s NewsBusters, a conservative group that seeks to expose
liberal bias, that exhumed the footage from its own vault. NewsBusters
found the clip after The Intercept first reported on a transcript of the
Larry King interview. "I’m wondering what a staffer would do
besides go to the press in Washington?" the caller begins. "My daughter
has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could
not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could
have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect
for him." In a telephone interview with Fox News, Reade
confirms that her mother called in to the show -- and it is
independently confirmed that the caller in the show had phoned in from
the same California city where Reade's mother lived at the time. Biden's
presidential campaign has adamantly denied Reade's allegations but the
video could be cited as evidence supporting Reade’s allegation – even
though her late mother, in the clip, does not specifically refer to a
sexual assault claim. CNN would not cover the clip until the following afternoon, well after most other media organizations. The Intercept had reported earlier that Reade said her late mother once called into CNN’s “Larry King Live” to
discuss her daughter’s “experience on Capitol Hill,” where the alleged
encounter with Biden took place. Reade didn’t recall other information,
such as the date or even year, and The Intercept managed to dig up a
transcript of the call but not the video. Meanwhile, aides to former 2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders express their anger. "The
video of Tara Reade's late mother calling into Larry King to blow the
whistle about about [sic] Tara's sexual assault is being met with
relative silence from a cadre of progressives right now and I want you
all to know that I see you," former Sanders senior adviser Winnie Wong
tweets. "We all do." "Progressives didn't make this
happen. Corporate Democrats chose Biden," Briahna Joy Gray, former
Sanders press secretary, tweets. Gray also added: "It's a good time to
note that Bernie's on the ballot." Shortly afterward, ex-Clinton adviser Peter Daou says Biden should withdraw his candidacy. He writes: "If #MeToo means anything, it CANNOT BE APPLIED ON A PARTISAN BASIS."
Day 32
OCT. 17, 2018 The Washington Post speculates about "two ways Democrats can remove Kavanaugh -- without impeaching him." One
of the approaches: A new president could "nominate and the Senate would
confirm by majority vote a justice — in this case Kavanaugh — to a
different post on an intermediate court of appeals (say the D.C.
Circuit, where Kavanaugh formerly served). The justice would, in effect,
be demoted." The Post notes with regret that the move is "admittedly unprecedented at the Supreme Court level." Another
equally unprecedented but "optimal" option: the "creation of a new
vehicle for judicial peer review ... [that would] create a nonpartisan,
procedurally robust device for disciplining judges." "If the
political stars align, something good for our constitutional democracy
might result from their efforts: a better way to discipline errant
federal judges," opines the piece's since-disappointed author,
University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq. APRIL 26, 2020 The 1993 episode of CNN's "Larry King Live" apparently featuring Reade's mother is discovered missing from the Google Play store. Twitter
user J.L. Hamilton shares a screenshot showing the Aug. 11, 1993,
broadcast of "Larry King Live" is no longer listed in the season three
catalog of the iconic CNN talk show. Mysteriously, though, the Aug. 10
broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 154" is followed by the Aug. 12
broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 155," suggesting that episode and
the ones that follow could be incorrectly listed and off by a number. Fox
News has verified the Aug. 11 episode is not listed on the streaming
service. It is unclear when it was removed from the catalog. Neither
CNN nor Google immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment.
Fox News also reached out to the representation of Larry King and have
not heard a response. Fox News' Joseph Wulfson, Brian Flood, and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
The Internal Revenue Service has made an update to its "Get My Payment" tool to help Americans track their coronavirus-prompted stimulus payments. The
enhancements, which started last week and continued through the
weekend, adjusted several items related to the online tool, which
debuted on April 15. The
changes were implemented to help millions of additional taxpayers with
new or expanded information and access to adding direct deposit
information. “We delivered Get My Payment with new capabilities
that did not exist during any similar relief program, including the
ability to receive direct deposit information that accelerates payments
to millions of people,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “These
further enhancements will help even more taxpayers. We urge people who
haven’t received a payment date yet to visit Get My Payment again for
the latest information." The IRS stimulus tool, which also allows
people to provide their direct deposit information if necessary, has
frustrated taxpayers with a “Payment Status Not Available” if “the
application doesn’t yet have your data or you are not eligible for a
payment.” The error message could occur for other reasons, too,
like if the IRS has not finished processing your 2019 return or you’re
expecting a direct deposit but didn’t file a tax return. The "Get
My Payment" tool can be accessed through IRS.gov. Taxpayers need a few
pieces of information to obtain the status of their payment and where
needed, provide their bank account information. Having a copy of their
most recent tax return can help speed the process. As part of President Trump’s $2 million CARES Act to stimulate the economy, the IRS sent $1,200 payments to those with adjusted gross income below $75,000 and $2,400 to married couples filing taxes jointly who earn under $150,000. FOX Business' Shawn M. Carter contributed to this article.
