Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams says she does not have the âdiscretionâ to release records regarding a complaint reportedly made against former Vice President Joe Biden while he was a senator.
In a statement to USA Today on Monday, Adamsâ office said, âBased on the lawâs strict confidentiality requirements⌠and the Senateâs own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorized if prohibited by law.â
The statement continued, âSenate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Bidenâs letter of May 1.â
On Friday, Biden asked Adams to find and release any records regarding a 1993 complaint from former aide Tara Reade â who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her.
âIf there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there,â Biden wrote in a statement.
He added, âI am requesting that the Secretary of the Senate ask the Archives to identify any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document.â
Biden denied Readeâs accusations in a statement and an interview on MSNBCâs âMorning Joeâ on Friday. He said, âIt is not true. Iâm saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didnât. It never happened.â
Reade said she filed a complaint with a Senate personnel office in 1993 about sexual harassment and retaliation â but not assault.
âI filed a complaint re sexual harassment and retaliation, but I am not sure what explicit words on that intake form until we all see it again,â she wrote in a text to NBC News on Saturday.
