Presumptive US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has denied that he sexually assaulted a former senate aide in 1993, in his first public remarks on the subject after he faced intense pressure to personally address the accusation.
"No, it is not true. I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened," Mr Biden said in an interview on MSNBC when asked about the accusation, which his campaign had already denied.
A California woman named Tara Reade, who worked as a staff assistant in Mr Biden's senate office from December 1992 to August 1993, has accused Biden in media interviews of pinning her against a wall in 1993, reaching under her skirt and pushing his fingers inside her.
Mr Biden, 77, who will be the Democratic nominee to face Republican President Donald Trump, 73, in the US election on 3 November, has faced growing pressure from within and outside his party to directly address the accusation.
Former US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Source: EPA
In a statement before the interview, Mr Biden called on the US Senate to ask the National Archives to release any personnel records that could indicate whether the aide filed a complaint against Mr Biden at the time.
He said that personal papers from his senate years, which were donated to the University of Delaware and have yet to be made available to the public, do not contain any personnel files.
"There is nothing for me to hide," Mr Biden said.
Mr Biden said he was not aware of any complaint against him by Ms Reade and he had not asked anyone to sign a non-disclosure agreement. He said he would not question Ms Reade's motive and did not know why she had made the complaint.
In recent years, more than a dozen women have accused Mr Trump of making unwanted sexual advances. In all instances, they claimed the purported misconduct occurred years before he entered politics. Mr Trump has denied the accusations, accusing rival Democrats and the media of a smear campaign.
"I think he should respond," Mr Trump said of Mr Biden at a media briefing on Thursday ahead of the interview. "It could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations."
Several news outlets that have published Ms Reade's account, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, have interviewed a friend who said Ms Reade told her about the alleged assault at the time. Another friend told the Times that Ms Reade told her in 2008 about a previous traumatic incident involving Mr Biden. Ms Reade's brother also confirmed parts of Ms Reade's account to The Intercept and the Post.
On Monday, the Business Insider news website published an interview with a former neighbour who said Ms Reade told her in the mid-1990s that Mr Biden had put his fingers inside her.
Ms Reade, 56, told media interviewers she complained at the time about sexual harassment, though not sexual assault, to three of Mr Biden's senate aides. The Biden campaign released a statement from one, Marianne Baker, who said she never received any report of inappropriate behaviour in nearly 20 years of working for Mr Biden.
The Post and Times interviewed the other two aides, both of whom told the newspapers they had no recollection of Ms Reade's complaint.
Ms Reade was one of eight women who last year came forward to say Mr Biden had hugged, kissed or touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable, though none accused him of sexual assault. Ms Reade publicly accused him of the assault on a podcast in March.
