Wallace says Biden gave ‘skillful’ answer on advice to voters on Reade

Chris Wallace said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gave a “pretty skillful answer” when he said voters who believe Tara Reade should not vote for him.

Reade is a former staffer for Biden who has alleged he sexually assaulted her in 1993. The former vice president has denied the allegations. 

“Well, I think it’s a pretty skillful answer, Sandra,” Wallace said. 

“On the one hand, he wants to absolutely flatly deny the truth of the allegation, the very damaging allegation, shocking allegation that he sexually assaulted her in the halls of Congress. But on the other hand, while he wants to deny her allegation, he doesn’t want to in any way to dismiss the allegations of women in general,” he said.

“It’s one of those things that I flatly deny the allegation, but I’m not in any way going to question the accuser,” Wallace continued.

“Does this issue go away for him, or does this linger on through 2020 election day?” Fox News anchor Sandra Smith asked.

“I think that as it now stands, it goes away in the sense that she has told her story, it’s a shocking story, it’s a disturbing story, but she doesn’t have any real evidence of it,” Wallace said, before pivoting to comments about sexual assault allegations against President Trump.

“So let’s also be clear, President Trump does not come in with clean hands on this either,” the “Fox News Sunday” anchor noted.

“There have obviously been a number of women who have accused him of sexual assault, so I don’t know that people that are upset by even the allegation of sexual assault will say that’s it, I’m not going for Biden, I’ll go for President Trump instead, who has also denied similar allegations,” he added.

Biden during a virtual MSNBC town hall hosted by Lawrence O’Donnell said that people “should vote their heart,” when asked what his message to voters would be regarding the allegations. “If they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me. I wouldn’t vote for me if I believe Tara Reade.”

Biden’s favorability has dropped to 43 percent in a Morning Consult poll, with 48 percent viewing him negatively.

The slide is particularly notable among women; his rating dropped 6 points since April, to 44 percent positive. It marks the first time Biden has been underwater among women.

The former Delaware senator still leads Trump in the RealClearPolitics average by 4.5 points. That lead was 7.4 points two months ago.