DNC Chair Defends Biden on Tara Reade Allegation, Says Records Search ‘Like the Hillary Emails, Because There Was Nothing There’

DNC Chair Tom Perez defended Joe Biden Sunday morning from former staffer Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault against the then-Delaware senator.

Martha Raddatz spoke with Perez and brought up the letter sent by the Biden camp to the secretary of the Senate asking for relevant records.

“Joe Biden has been very clear, Martha, that this did not happen,” Perez said. “He was forceful in that and he’s been equally clear that when women come forward with complaints of this nature, they should be taken seriously. Their complaints should be investigated, they should be treated with dignity, and he’s done exactly that… He is an open book.”

Raddatz pointed out that Biden has said “he will not release documents from his years in the Senate” and how the New York Times wants the DNC to investigate this matter.

“There’s been so many investigations of the vice president. The most comprehensive investigation of the vice president was when he was vetted by Barack Obama in 2008,” Perez said, bringing up recent comments by people in the Obama camp at that time.

As for the records at the University of Delaware, Perez said, “Any university that takes somebody’s documents — they’re taking their policy documents, they’re taking their speeches. They’re not taking their personnel records.”

“But why not just search Tara Reade in those documents?” Raddatz asked.

“This is like the Hillary emails, because there was nothing there,” Perez responded. “The reason is if I’m going — I worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1995, the ranking member was Joe Biden. I wasn’t working for Joe Biden, I was working for Senator Kennedy. If you want to see my personnel records, you don’t go to the Kennedy Institute. That’s not where they go. So when you ask the University of Delaware to take a look at something, you’re asking them to look for something that doesn’t exist.”

You can watch above, via ABC.