Biden Addresses Voters Who Doubt His Strong Denials of Sexual Assault: ‘I Wouldn’t Vote for Me, If I Believed Tara Reade’

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden strongly denied the sexual assault allegations leveled against him by a former Senate staffer, but said that voters who doubted his account should feel free not to support him: “I wouldn’t vote for me, if I believed Tara Reade.”

During an extended appearance on Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Biden addressed the assault claims once again when the MSNBC host asked him to address women who are hesitant to support him because of the allegations.

“What do you say to women ready to vote for Joe Biden, eager to vote for Joe Biden but this gives them serious pause because they do believe Tara Reade and you’re not going to change their mind about that,” O’Donnell asked. “What would you say to them about their vote?”

“Well, I think they should vote their heart. If they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me,” Biden said. “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believe Tara Reade.”

“The fact is, look at Tara Reade’s story, her story changes considerably,” Biden continued. “I don’t want to question her motive. I don’t want to question anything other than to say the truth matters. This is being vetted. It’s been vetted. They went and people interviewed scores of my employees over my whole career. This is just totally thoroughly completely out of character. And the idea that in a public place, in a hallway, I would assault a woman? I mean, anyway, I promise you it never happened. It should be vetted. She should be thoroughly looked at and whether or not these happened, look at the story. Follow the storyline and determine if there’s any truth to it. And there is no truth to it, I promise you.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.