Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, directly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted one of his former staffers at the Capitol Building in 1993.
Biden addressed the allegations for the first time publicly in a blog post on Medium Friday morning.
"So I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren't true. This never happened," Biden wrote.
Biden also asked the Secretary of the Senate to request any documents to search the National Archives and share any records of harassment complaints that had been made about him.
"If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there," Biden wrote.
Biden also pointed to his political record in fighting for women's rights, including his work on the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.
The blog post is the first time Biden has directly denied the allegations. Previously, only Biden campaign staffers had issued denials.
In two interviews with The Associated Press, Tara Reade, a former Biden staffer, claims Biden sexually assaulted her in the basement of the Capitol Building in 1993. Reade said she raised concerns about sexual harassment — but not assault — with her superiors at the time. However, none of Biden's former staffers confirmed to the AP that Reade raised concerns a the time.
However, the AP did report that two of Reade's friends confirmed that Reade had told them about the assault before she went public with her claims earlier this year. One friend said Reade told them about the assault around the time it happened. Another friend — who met Reade in the early 2000s — says they were told of the assault in 2008 or 2009.
Biden will further discuss the allegations in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday.
