Biden expected to publicly address sexual assault allegation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden on Friday was expected to give his first public comments on a sexual assault allegation that has roiled his presidential campaign.

The presumptive Democratic nominee will appear on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to address the allegation by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade that he assaulted her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the 1990s. His campaign issued a statement in early April denying the allegation, and a number of former Biden staffers have defended their boss in interviews.

Biden himself has yet to face any questions or weigh in on the accusation, even as it’s taken on fresh attention this week after two of Reade’s associates said she previously told them about elements of her allegations.

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Republicans worried about President Donald Trump’s increasingly precarious political standing are seizing on the allegation to portray Democrats as hypocrites who only defend women who allege wrongdoing against conservatives. They are digging in despite the fact that it could renew attention on the multiple sexual assault allegations lodged against Trump.

Democrats, meanwhile, are in an awkward position of vigorously validating women who come forward with their stories while defending the man who will be their standard-bearer in what many in the party consider the most important election of their lifetimes.

Some in the party have been urging Biden to mount a more forceful response to the allegation.

“The campaign has issued statements, but he hasn’t issued any statements in his own voice,” said former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile. “It’s not helping, it’s just damaging — not only to the person who has come forward, but it’s also damaging the candidate.”

Lis Smith, a top strategist on Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, also called on the Biden campaign to speak up.

“These accusations have not been found to be credible, so it’s in the Biden campaign’s interest to nip this in the bud directly and do it quickly,” she said.

The November contest between Biden and Trump will be the first presidential race of the #MeToo era, which has led numerous women to come forward with allegations of sexual assault. Trump has been accused of assault and unwanted touching by numerous women, allegations he denies.

Women are a core constituency for Democrats, and Biden has a mixed history. While he wrote the Violence Against Women Act as a senator, he also came under heavy criticism for his handling of Anita Hill’s Senate testimony in the 1990s. Just before he launched his 2020 campaign, several women accused him of unwanted touching, behavior for which he apologized.

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Biden has pledged to pick a woman as a running mate, and the allegation has left those thought to be in contention in a tough spot.

Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia Democratic governor candidate, said, “I believe Joe Biden,” citing a New York Times investigation that she said exonerated him.

“Women deserve to be heard,” she said, “but I also believe that those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources.”

That echoed talking points issued by the Biden campaign to surrogates last week that were obtained by The Associated Press. They pointed to investigations by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the AP that found no other allegation of sexual assault and no pattern of sexual misconduct.

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also defended Biden. Speaking on CNN, she said she was “satisfied with how he has responded,” even as she acknowledged “it’s a matter that he has to deal with.”

Some Democratic donors and fundraisers say the issue has not come up in calls with party financiers. Others worry that it could be used against Biden, much as Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the activities of the Clinton Foundation were wielded against her by Trump.

Some, most notably women, say they are paying close attention to the allegations, which gave them pause.

Alex Sink, a donor and former Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, said she was “not happy” to read about the allegations against Biden. While she still plans to vote for him, she worried his campaign was too quick to categorically deny Reade’s story.

“They put themselves immediately out on a limb by saying, ‘It didn’t happen, we categorically deny it, it’s not true,’” Sink said.

Some female Democratic operatives expressed concerns the allegation is particularly damaging because it’s an indictment of Biden’s central campaign rationale: that he provides a moral counter to Trump and that the election is a “battle for the soul of America.”

“The stakes could not be higher for defeating Donald Trump — but at the same time, I think we have to apply a consistent standard for how we treat allegations of sexual assault, and also be clear-eyed about how Donald Trump will use these allegations in the general election campaign,” said Claire Sandberg, who worked as Bernie Sanders’ organizing director.

The silence from the Biden campaign has given Republicans an opening on an issue that was, in 2016, more fraught for the GOP, when Trump was asked to answer for the more than two dozen women who alleged varying levels of sexual assault and harassment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News on Thursday that Biden will “have to participate in releasing all the information related to” the allegation, a stance he didn’t take when Trump faced misconduct accusations.

The GOP argues Democrats aren’t being consistent, pointing to aggressive questioning and coverage of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when he faced an allegation of sexual assault.

Speaking about the allegation for the first time on Friday, Trump said Biden “should respond” before proceeding to criticize the treatment of Kavanaugh as “an absolute disgrace to our country.”

Steve Guest, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said “the left, and their media allies, has one standard for Republicans and another standard for Democrats like Joe Biden.”

“The double standard,” he said, “is appalling.”

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Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Biden's call for 'transparency' during Dem debate comes back to haunt him

Former Vice President Joe Biden had gone over a month without addressing the explosive sexual assault allegation made by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, but he had quite a different tune during one of the Democratic debates earlier this year.
Back in February, during former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's underwhelming run for president, the billionaire businessman was pummelled by his competitors over not releasing former female employees from their non-disclosure agreements (NDA).
And while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is remembered for her fierce line of attacks at the two debates with Bloomberg, Biden also squeezed in some punches of his own.
"Let's get something straight here. It's easy. All the mayor has to do is say, 'You are released from the non-disclosure agreement. Period," Biden said in an edited clip preserved on his Twitter account. "This is about transparency from the very beginning. Whether it's your health records, whether it's your taxes, whether you have cases against you, whether or not people have signed non-disclosure agreements."
His shaming of Bloomberg continued, "You think that women, in fact, were ready to say, 'I don't want anybody to know about what you did to me.' That's not how it works. The way it works is they say, 'Look, this is what you did to me' and the mayor comes along and his attorneys say, 'I will give you this amount of money if you promise you'll never say anything. That's how it works.
The tweet, which was made on February 20, also read, "Let me be clear: Mayor Bloomberg should release folks from their non-disclosure agreements. This is about transparency. The American people deserve to know the truth."
Biden has been criticized for lack of transparency. The presumptive Democratic nominee is set to break his silence on Friday.
There have also been growing calls for him to unseal his Senate records that are being held at the University of Delaware, where Reade believes her sexual harassment complaint she filed to the Senate personnel office is being held and further corroborate her claims.
However, the university says the records will remain sealed until at least two years after Biden leaves public life.
"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 has told Fox News. "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?"
The editorial board of The Washington Post joined that call, urging Biden on Wednesday to address the allegations and "release relevant records."
Biden is set to address the allegations for the first time on Friday. It is unknown if he will be asked whether he would be willing to unseal his Senate records.
His campaign has denied Reade's allegations.

California has list of outdoor activities still permissible during coronavirus, gets panned on social media

LOS ANGELES-- Gov. Gavin Newsom directed California residents to a list of outdoor activities that the state said are still permissible during the statewide shelter-in-place order, drawing ire on social media.
Newsom reportedly directed state residents to read the list that includes activities like Badminton (singles), BMX biking, gardening (not in groups), car-washing and tree climbing. The state still wants safe social distancing to be practiced.
“We want you to see sunsets,” Newsom said, according to SFGate. “We want you to enjoy activities outdoors.  What they don’t want is people congregating outside in large groups.”
The idea that the state would make a list to inform its residents that gardening is allowed did not sit well with many on social media. Residents in the state have been inside for weeks and some have already spoken out on what they see as a Sacramento overreach.
“I swear they made this list by watching a California tourism commercial,” one Twitter user posted. Another wrote, “California, today, released a list of activities that the Liberals in charge are allowing us citizens to do. The list includes ‘watching the sunrise and watching the sunset.’ How gracious of the all-powerful liberal leadership.”
Newsom has insisted that keeping the coronavirus at bay is his top priority and he has been praised for his early approach to the pandemic. But there is beginning to be fissures in the state and more pushback from business owners to surfers.
State health officials say these guidelines are in place to protect citizens from a highly contagious virus.
Harmeet Dhillon, the California Republican Party vice chairwoman, told “The Ingraham Angle” Thursday that Newsom “went off the deep end” with his restrictions.
Earlier Thursday, Newsom cracked down on beachgoers in Southern California, initiating a "hard close" of beaches in Orange County in response to what he considered social distancing violations last weekend.
"The goalposts keep moving with this governor," Dhillon responded. "At the beginning of this crisis, many of us were complimentary of his willingness to work with our president but in the last couple of weeks, he's really gone in the opposite direction.
"I think with the legislators not in session, nobody is asking him any questions," Dhillon added, "and he has really gone off the deep end, as you just mentioned in Orange County today."
Huntington Beach City Council voted in an emergency session Thursday night to try and obtain an injunction against Newsom's order, the Los  Angeles Times reported.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes reportedly said his intention “is to not take enforcement action on this order.”
Fox News' Talia Kaplan contributed to this report

Michigan Gov. Whitmer extends coronavirus state of emergency declaration another month, takes swipe at GOP

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday extended Michigan's state of emergency and disaster declaration through May 28, hours before it was set to expire and after hundreds of protesters, some of whom were armed, gathered in the state Capitol building to voice their displeasure with the Democratic governor.
Whitmer also took shots at the Republican-controlled legislature for refusing to extend the order earlier in the day.
"By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk," she said in a statement. "I’m not going to let that happen.”
The emergency declaration gives Whitmer additional powers to issue executive orders during an emergency. She claimed she had the emergency authority regardless of what state lawmakers did.
In a rejection of the governor, the state House and Senate adopted resolutions Thursday to legally challenge her authority and also approved a bill to allow some of her mandates but not her stay-at-home order, which expires May 16.
No lawsuit had been filed as of Thursday night, MLive reported.
Whitmer said she planned to veto the bill and won't sign any bills that "that constrain her ability to protect the people of Michigan from this deadly virus in a timely manner," her office said, according to The Detroit News.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of demonstrators, some armed with rifles, descended on the state Capitol building in Lansing to voice frustration over the stay-at-home order, which mandates temporary business closures and that residents remain home.
Many made it inside the building and stood shoulder-to-shoulder, calling for a return to normal daily life. Opponents accuse Whitmer of overstepping her authority by prohibiting sales of items like garden supplies and banning most travel between homes and certain activities.
An earlier rally on April 15 called "Operation Gridlock" drew thousands outside the Capitol building, in addition to another gathering outside Whitmer's home. Similar demonstrations have occurred nationwide as many Americans remain concerned about their livelihoods.
The Michigan Court of Claims sided with the governor Wednesday, denying a motion for a preliminary injunction to the order. The court ruled that the stay-at-home order doesn't violate residents' constitutional rights.
Michigan recorded 41,379 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, including 3,789 deaths, according to the state website.
In her declaration announcement, Whitmer said scientific data shows the state is not ready to resume normal operations.
“It defies common sense and science," she said during a virtual town hall Thursday night. "We are still in a state of emergency. We have to take this seriously. If we are smart, we can start to reengage safely."
Fox News' Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.

Alyssa Milano Cartoons

Newsom to close all California beaches, state parks over coronavirus: memo

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be closing all beaches and state parks across the state starting Friday to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to a memo sent to California police chiefs Wednesday.
The decision comes less than a week after Newsom called out the massive crowds that flocked to Newport Beach in Orange County last weekend during a heatwave.
Newsom called the beach crowds an example of "what not to do"  for the state to make progress toward easing restrictions in the statewide stay-at-home order.
“We wanted to give all of our members a heads up about this in order to provide time for you to plan any situations you might expect as a result, knowing each community has its dynamics,” the memo, sent by the California Police Chiefs Association, said.
Many beaches across the state are closed, but some, such as Ventura and Orange Counties, are open and starting to get more people as the weather gets warmer.
The Newport Beach City Council Tuesday voted down a measure that would close the beach for the next three weeks after an estimated 80,000 flocked to the water over the weekend.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner on Wednesday called the order an "overreaction," saying that while he believes Newsom has the power to close the beaches he thinks it's a bad idea because "Medical professionals tell us the importance of fresh air and sunlight in fighting infectious diseases."
He added it will make so far cooperative residents more likely to break the stay-at-home order.
Laguna Beach and some beaches in San Diego County recently reopened for limited use.
Protesters in nearby Huntington Beach demanded the state reopen businesses the weekend before last and the governor's order is likely to fuel frustration from Californians already stir-crazy after more than a month of staying at home.
Since mid-March, 3.7 million Californians have filed for unemployment, more than 47,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed and nearly 2,000 have died of the virus as of Wednesday, according to The Times.
Fox News reached out to Newsom's office in an after-hours call.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New Jersey professor assigns blame for coronavirus outbreak: ‘F--- each and every Trump supporter’

Brittney Cooper

A professor at a New Jersey university is blaming President Trump and his supporters for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, claiming it’s their fault African-Americans have been dying at a disproportionate rate.
“F--- each and every Trump supporter. You absolutely did this. You are to blame,” was among the comments – several of them containing profanity -- posted on Twitter this week by Brittney Cooper, an associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University.
In another post, Cooper wrote that she and other African-Americans suspect that recent efforts to reopen the country following stay-at-home orders were “all about a gross necropolitical calculation that it is Black people who are dying disproportionately from COVID.”
“Not only do white conservatives not care about Black life,” she wrote, “but my most cynical negative read of the white supremacists among them is that they welcome this mass winnowing of Black folks in order to slow demographic shifts and shore up political power.”
Last week Dr. Athony Fauci, a member of President Trump's Coronavirus Task Force, said during an online interview that high coronavirus death rates among African-Americans were largely attributable to pre-existing health conditions that are common in the black community, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes and asthma.

Brittney Cooper, associated professor of Women's, Gender and Africana studies, Rutgers Univeristy. (Getty Images)

"It’s really terrible, because it’s just one of the failings of our society, that African-Americans have a disproportionate prevalence in incidents of the very comorbid conditions that put you at a high risk,” Fauci told actor Will Smith, who conducted the interview.
In another post, Cooper claimed Trump supporters’ loyalty to the president impaired their judgment about the outbreak.
“They are literally willing to die from this clusterf---ed COVID response rather than admit absolutely anybody other than him [Trump] would have been a better president,” she wrote. “And when whiteness has a death wish, we are all in for a serious problem.”

'Depths of white depravity'

Five days earlier, on April 23, Cooper wrote about “the depths of white depravity,” claiming whites refused “to be swayed by facts, reason or the value of life itself, especially when those lives are Black.”
“It staggers me,” Cooper wrote.
Cooper has a history of criticizing President Trump. Last October she asserted the president’s policies were partly to blame for weight problems among African-American women. Last August she claimed Trump was willing to “get us into war” to keep the economy strong to bolster his 2020 reelection hopes.
She is the author of “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower,” which The Guardian ranked among its “Top 10 Books About Angry Women,” according to Amazon.

Alyssa Milano offers Biden unsolicited advice on how to handle allegations

Actress and notable #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano wrote an op-ed Wednesday attempting to explain her ongoing support for former Vice President Joe Biden despite the developments in the sexual assault allegation from his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade.
In a piece titled "Living in the Gray as a Woman" that was published by Deadline, Milano wrote about how the #MeToo movement "changed" her.
She wrote that there are some instances that are obvious: Weinstein and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She wrote Kavanaugh’s "actions, told consistently over decades by his victim (and supported by her polygraph results), were clearly wrong." He denied the allegations.
She wrote that there is a concern that advocates start to see things as black and white.
"Except it’s not always so easy, and living in the gray areas is something we’re trying to figure out in the world of social media. But here’s something social media doesn’t afford us– nuance," Milano wrote.
"The world is gray. And as uncomfortable as that makes people, gray is where the real change happens. Black and white is easy. Gray is the place women can come together out of the glare of the election and speak our truths, our doubts, our hopes, our convictions and test them against the light and the dark," she wrote.
She wrote that in an ideal world, it would  be a woman who took on President Trump "instead of an electoral college which says white men are the people driving the charge yet again this year."
The former "Charmed" actress insisted that Reade's allegations against Biden "concern me, deeply," but that Biden is someone "who I can’t picture doing any of the things of which he’s accused."
She went on to offer Biden some advice as to how to handle the allegations going forward.
"I’d advise him to face the allegation head-on, answer every question, and admit any wrongdoing, and to be the example for all men who face these kinds of accusations whether founded or not," Milano urged her preferred candidate.
Milano then addressed Reade, who she only referred to as "his accuser," and how she believed every survivor should "have space to tell their story" but cautioned her not to be "fodder for the machine."
"Believing women was never about 'Believe all women no matter what they say,' it was about changing the culture of NOT believing women by default. It was about ending the patriarchy’s dangerous drive for self-preservation at all costs, victims be damned," Milano continued to explain her dismissal of Reade.
In an interview with Fox News, Reade blasted Milano after she had made an appearance at the tense Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in support of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

Actress Alyssa Milano watches a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., September 27, 2018. Matt McClain/Pool via REUTERS - RC13A7C2F350

"I think we need to compare how she responded to Brett Kavanaugh... quite different than the talking points she [used] regarding Joe Biden," Reade told Fox News. "She never reached out to me. I don't really want to amplify her voice because I feel like she hijacked my narrative for a while and framed it about herself... she knows nothing about it."
Milano "only knows Joe Biden, so she doesn't know me and has never talked to me. So, how could she possibly talk about the case?" Reade asked.
In response to Milano calling for "due process" for men accused of sexual assault, Reade said, "she really doesn't know anything about what happened to me," calling it "odd" that she would weigh in on an assault claim when she never attempted to seek information from the accuser.
"I don't know what her role is. She's not really a professional helping women. She was basically talking about protecting powerful men the last time she made a statement," Reade said. "It's just the complete opposite of how she approached Brett Kavanaugh, so it's kind of weird and strange and I think she's just looking for ways to be relevant."
Milano appeared to change her stance on Reade's claims on Monday night after more corroboration surfaced.
“I’m aware of the new developments in Tara Reade’s accusation against Joe Biden. I want Tara, like every other survivor, to have the space to be heard and seen without being used as fodder,” Milano tweeted before writing her op-ed. “I hear and see you, Tara.”
Representatives for Milano did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

University Of Delaware board members, who are keeping Biden's Senate records secret, have close ties to the former VP

Numerous top officials on the board of the University of Delaware, which is refusing to release Joe Biden's Senate records despite an earlier promise to do so, have close personal and financial ties to the former vice president, records reviewed by Fox News show -- and the chairman of the board even bought Biden's house in 1996 for $1.2 million, reportedly a "top dollar" price given its condition.
The documents suggest a significant conflict of interest as Biden faces increasing pressure to relinquish the documents that could contain information relevant to Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against him.
Biden dropped off 1,875 boxes of “photographs, documents, videotapes, and files” and 415 gigabytes of electronic records to the University of Delaware in 2012. The university initially said it expected to make the records “available to the public two years after Biden’s last day in elected public office.” In April 2019, just hours before Biden announced his current presidential bid, the university changed its mind, and said the papers wouldn't be released until either December 31, 2019 or until two years after Biden “retires from public life,” whichever comes later.
This week, both The Atlantic and The Washington Post argued that Biden should instruct the university to turn over the records, saying they "could contain confirmation of any complaint Ms. Reade made, either through official congressional channels or to the three other employees she claims she informed not specifically of the alleged assault but more generally of harassment."
The University of Delaware’s charter states that the Board of Trustees has “entire control and management of the affairs of the university," and notes that no university bylaws "shall diminish or reduce the Board’s plenary authority over all matters related to the control and management of the affairs of the University."
The current chairman of the board at the University of Delaware, John Cochran, is a longtime Biden donor and former CEO of MBNA.
In a January 2008 article entitled "The Senator from MBNA," columnist Byron York recounted how Cochran, then MBNA's vice chairman, paid "top dollar" for Biden's home in February 1996, just prior to his Senate re-election bid, and that "MBNA gave Cochran a lot of money—$330,000—to help with 'expenses' related to the move."

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2012 file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden talks to customers, including a woman who pulled up her chair in front of the bench Biden was sitting on, during a stop at Cruisers Diner in Seaman, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The $1.2M sale was a "pretty darned good deal for Biden," York wrote, noting that "Cochran simply paid Biden’s full asking price" even though the "house needed quite a bit of work; contractors and their trucks descended on the house for months after the purchase."
York noted that nearby houses were selling below their appraised value at the time. “It is customary for appraisers to evaluate homes in relation to similar properties in the area, or ‘comparables,''' York wrote. "In the case of Biden’s house, the appraiser compared the home to another large old house about a quarter of a mile away. That house—which was in similar condition—was judged to be worth $1,013,000. It sold in August 1995 for $800,000 (it should be noted that the house did not have a pool, which Biden’s does; on the other hand the house had central air conditioning, which Biden’s did not, and it was on a larger lot)."
The appraiser also "looked at two other newer houses in the area," York continued. "One was appraised at $1,230,000 and sold for $1,007,500. The other was appraised at $1,163,000 and sold for an even $1 million. In all three cases, the homes sold for a good deal less than their appraised value."
Asked how Cochran and Biden found each other for the sale, an MBNA spokesperson told York: "That’s a very personal question." Federal election records also showed top MBNA executives apparently made a "concerted" effort to donate to Biden's campaign, York reported.
Shortly after the house sale, Biden's son Hunter was hired on at MBNA. Rachel Mullen, a former senior personal banking officer at MBNA from 1994-2001 who later went into Republican politics, tweeted that managers referred to the younger Biden as "Senator MBNA" after he was hired into a lucrative management-prep track right after he graduated from Yale Law School.
An MBNA source who previously worked at the company told Fox News that other employees heard Biden boasting that his salary was unusually high, even for the management-prep track -- which was widely seen in the company as a way to groom and pamper well-connected executive candidates with powerful family members.

John Cochran, chairman of the Board of Trustees, on the left in a 2018 photo. (Kathy F. Atkinson / University of Delaware)

The source said Biden's "Senator MBNA" nickname was not politically motivated, but rather reflected a widely held belief among managers -- who did not work directly with Biden -- that he essentially was engaged in lobbying.
As Hunter cashed the checks, Biden was pushing successfully on the Senate floor for legislation that would make it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection -- benefiting companies like MBNA.  In a contemporaneous interview, Tom Brokaw asked the elder Biden whether it was "inappropriate" for the then-senator to have his son "collecting money from this big credit card company while you were on the [Senate] floor protecting its interests."
In 2018, Cochran, who has supported each of Biden's political campaigns, joined Biden in attending the naming ceremony of the Biden School of Public Policy at the University of Delaware.
Further, at least seven other members of the University of Delaware's board of trustees have donated to Biden's political campaigns -- including a former Biden senior counsel from the Senate, as well as the state's governor and other senior officials.
Terri Kelly, the former president and CEO Of W.L. Gore & Associates, has served on the university's board of trustees since 2014 -- and donated the maximum legal amount to Biden in 2019.
Carol Ammon, who has been on the board since 2013, has given more than $10,000 to Biden's campaign and affiliated PACs, federal election records show.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden leans in to say something to Maggie Coons, next to her father Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., after Biden administered the Senate oath to Coons during a ceremonial re-enactment swearing-in ceremony, Jan. 6, 2015, in the Old Senate Chamber of Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

John Paradee, a lawyer, joined the board in 2018. He has also donated heavily to Biden.
John Carney, the state's governor and another board member, has also donated more than $1,000 to Biden.
Claire DeMatteis served as counsel to Biden. Since 2001, she has given over $16,000 to Democratic PACs, including Biden's, called Unite our States.
TIMELINE SHOWS MEDIA, DEMS TREATED KAVANAUGH MATTER VERY DIFFERENTLY
Chai Gadde, a CEO, has donated thousands to Biden.
William Lafferty, a partner at a Delaware law firm who serves on the board as well, has also given more than $2,500 to Biden's campaign.

Nov. 1, 2014: Then-Vice President Joe Biden with actress Eva Longoria in Las Vegas. 

Despite some outlets calling for the release of the records held by these board members, Senate Democrats and media outlets have been mostly silent on Reade's claims, even though they called for an immediate FBI investigation into claims against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Reade, however, has presented substantially more corroborating evidence than Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
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, even as some Democrats have urged Biden to address the matter himself.
Earlier Wednesday, The New York Times rebuked the Biden campaign, telling Fox News that the campaign was apparently circulating talking points to top Democrats that "inaccurately" described the paper's reporting. The talking points falsely claimed that the Times had disproven Reade's accusations, when it actually found some corroboration.
Business Insider, The Intercept, and Newsbusters have separately found additional contemporaneous corroboration for Reade's claims, including footage showing Reade's mother calling into "Larry King Live" to discuss an incident involving her daughter and a prominent senator.
The Times had earlier stealth-edited its coverage of the Biden accusations at the request of the Biden campaign. The paper specifically removed a section of its reporting referring to numerous other episodes in which Biden was accused of inappropriate touching -- including one instance in which he was caught on camera touching young girls and making them visibly uncomfortable.
"I think that the [Biden] campaign thought that the phrasing was awkward and made it look like there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual misconduct," The Times' executive editor, Dean Baquet, admitted the day after the article was published.
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."
That 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."
Baquet also struggled to explain why his paper had waited weeks to even report on Reade's allegations. Baquet implied that Kavanaugh was urgently in the public spotlight, while Biden -- who was locking up the Democratic presidential nomination as Reade's claim surfaced -- somehow was not in the public eye.
"Kavanaugh was already in a public forum in a large way," Baquet said. "Kavanaugh was in a very different situation. It was a live, ongoing story that had become the biggest political story in the country. It was just a different news judgment moment."
Biden has previously said he would change his interactions with women going forward, but stopped short of apologizing for his conduct.

Stupid Democrat Mistakes Cartoons