Warren calls Biden’s denial of sexual assault claim ‘credible’ and ‘convincing,’ says she proudly supports him

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told reporters late Monday that she found presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s denial of sexual assault allegations by a former Senate aide “credible” and “convincing.”

Warren, whose name has been floated as a possible Biden running mate, said she watched the former vice president’s tense interview with Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, when for the first time he addressed the claims in a media interview, adding that she was happy with how he answered “tough” questions.

Tara Reade has alleged that Biden pushed her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her in the Capitol when he was a senator in 1993.

Biden, however, told MSNBC last week that “it never, never happened.”

Warren, one of the most prominent women in the Democratic Party, said on Monday that she believes Biden.

“I believe that everyone has a right to tell her story, to be listened to, and treated with respect,” Warren told reporters after she walked into the Capitol for a late afternoon vote.

“I saw the reports of [what] Ms. Reade said, I saw the interview with Vice President Biden. I appreciate that the vice president took a lot of questions, tough questions — and that he answered them directly and respectfully.”

The progressive senator also said “the vice president’s answers were credible and convincing.”

Warren, who ran against Biden in the Democratic presidential primary, said she was proud to have endorsed his candidacy on April 15.

“I support the vice president, I support his campaign and I am proud to have endorsed him for president,” she said. “I think that the 2020 election will be about is who this country works for. And the vice president is fighting every day for an America that doesn’t just work for a handful of people at the top.”

Later asked if she thinks an independent investigation into Reade’s claims, something a couple other Democratic senators have endorsed, is needed, Warren said: “I think what the vice president has said is convincing, and I support him.”

Other prominent Democratic women have also defended Biden from the assault allegations.

“I stand by Vice President Biden,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told reporters last week. “He has devoted his life to supporting women, and he has vehemently denied this allegation.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also told reporters recently that she believes Biden and is proud to support his campaign.

“The happiest day for me this week was to support Joe Biden for president of the United States,” she told reporters Thursday. “He’s a person of great integrity, great concern for the American people.”

Biden pledged at a debate in March to pick a woman as his running mate if he wins the Democratic nomination for president.