Pressure builds for Joe Biden to respond to sexual assault allegation

WASHINGTON (SBG)— There are growing calls for former Vice President Joe Biden to directly respond to an allegation from former Senate staffer Tara Reade that he sexually assaulted her in 1993.

"The longer he goes, the harder it’s going to be to respond," said political analyst Ameshia Cross. "I think that for Joe Biden, he knows that he is a gaffe machine, and that this is definitely not a topic that can afford any type of gaffe."

While Biden hasn't directly responded, his campaign has, calling the allegations false.

On Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her support for Biden has not changed.

“I have great sympathy for any women who bring forth an allegation and I’m a big strong supporter of the MeToo movement," Pelosi told CNN.

As Biden formally launches a search committee for his running mate, at least four women believed to be in the running to join him on the Democratic ticket have not changed their support for the former vice president.

“I believe Joe Biden," former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told CNN on Wednesday.

Senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar made similar statements.

“I do think that having Klobuchar, having Stacey Abrams come out and you know, dissuade some of these allegations I think is something that’s extremely important for him as he moves forward," said Cross.

Members of the Trump 2020 campaign accused Democrats and the media of ignoring the allegation.

“The Democrat party says, ‘Well, we gotta listen to the women, we gotta listen to the victims,’ but what about Tara Reade?" said senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign Mercedes Schlapp. "They’re not wanting to listen to her in this case."

Schlapp said it's hard for her to watch those Democrats stand by Biden after being "so hard" on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault.

“Yet when it comes to Joe Biden, these same women senators and Democrat leaders give him a pass and so that becomes troubling for us because it’s something that should be investigated, that Joe Biden should respond to," said Schlapp.

The statute of limitations on Reade's allegation has expired.

Many have said the Trump campaign has no businesses attacking Biden, given the dozens of sexual assault allegations against the president. Cross said it's a "pot call the kettle black situation."

“Trump currently has 27 cases against him from 27 separate women, and this covers a multitude of times from back in the 80s to literally right before he ran for president of the United States," said Cross.“I think that conservatives by and large have not been the people that spoke out for women’s rights to begin with, so this is a different type of set-up.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the Biden campaign has not responded to Sinclair's request for comment.