Brzezinski got right to the point, after saying, “It’s just going to be you and me,” opening the interview by asking: “Did you sexually assault Tara Reade?”
Biden looked directly into the camera and said, “No, it is not true. I’m saying unequivocally it never, never happened. It didn’t.”
Brzezinski also pressed Biden on statements he had made during the 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and the surfacing of decades-old allegations against him by Christine Blasey Ford. Brzezinski reminded him that he had said at the time, “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.”
The Morning Joe co-host then turned to the allegation by Reade and its believability. ““Is the essence of what she is saying real?” Brzezinski said of Tara Reade. “Why do you think she’s doing this?”
“I’m not going to question her motive, I’m not going to get into that at all,” Biden replied. “I don’t know why these she’s saying this. I don’t know why after 27 years all of a sudden this gets raised. I don’t understand that. But I’m not going to go in and question her motive. I’m not going to attack her. She has a right to say whatever she wants to say. But I have a right to say, look at the facts, check it out. Find out if what any of what she says is true.”
Brzezinski pressed again
“As it pertained to Dr. Ford, high-level Democrats said she should be believed, that they believed it happened,” Brzezinski said. “You said, if someone like Dr. Ford were to come out, the essence of what she is saying has to be believed, has to be real. Why? Why? Why is it real for Dr. Ford, but not for Tara Reade?”
Biden argued that his position then and his stance now were not inconsistent. “She has a right to say what she wants to say but I have a right to say look at the facts.”
“I’m not suggesting she had no right to come forward,” Biden added. “Any woman, they should come forward, they should be heard. And then it should be investigated. And if there’s anything that is consistent with what’s being said, and she makes the case or the case is made, then it should be believed. But only the truth matters.”
As Brzezinski continue to press, Biden replied, “I don’t know what else I can say to you.”
Then, in a long, contentious and at times highly confusing exchange, Brzezinski repeatedly asked why Biden wouldn’t allow a search for any documents related to Reade at the University of Delaware, in that cache of personal papers, to which he responded several times “they’re not there,” repeating his assertion on Medium that no personnel files were housed at the university. “I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make,” the former vice president finally said, clearly looking exasperated.