NY Times Deletes Tweet After Report On Biden Allegation

The New York Times stealth-edited its article on the sexual-assault allegation against Joe Biden by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade just minutes after it was published on Sunday morning, removing all references in a key paragraph to the multiple past accusations by seven women that the former vice president had touched them inappropriately.

Tara Reade

Fox News reports The Times piece also focuses on unrelated sexual misconduct accusations against President Trump, and largely dismisses Reade's allegations as uncorroborated by her co-workers -- even though the Times notes later in its piece that Reade's claim was contemporaneously corroborated by two of Reade's friends.

According to a copy of the Times' article saved by the Internet archive Wayback Machine, the Times originally reported: "No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable."

That paragraph now reads: "No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden."

Soon after Tara Reade made the allegation, in a podcast interview released on March 25, The New York Times began reporting on her account and seeking corroboration through interviews, documents and other sources. https://t.co/NiVFxtcMaF pic.twitter.com/6nU5a1tteZ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 12, 2020

The Times' handling of Reade's accusations, conservative commentators and some Democrats said, stood in stark contrast to how the media and several senators handled accusations about Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The Times was unable to corroborate the allegation against Biden, which may remind you of the charges against Brett Kavanaugh. But I don’t recall the Times ever quite saying that about the Kavanaugh case. Oh, and there were no “hugs, kisses and touching” claims against Kavanaugh. https://t.co/kYxz3tohSc

— Brit Hume (@brithume) April 12, 2020

Reade filed a report with Washington, D.C., police on Thursday concerning her allegation that Biden penetrated her without consent in 1993. Fox News has confirmed with the District’s police department that she filed the criminal complaint, which does not reference Biden by name. The Biden campaign has strongly denied Reade's accusation, although the former vice president has previously acknowledged that he should change his behavior around women.

The Times' piece contained other references to the several women who have said Biden touched them in inappropriate ways, but deleted any mention of them in the section of its article that asserted that Biden had no "pattern" of misconduct.

There's no evidence of misconduct from Joe Biden beyond (checks article) hugs, kisses, and *touching.*

And then they removed that afterwards?

What the $#@!, @nytimes? https://t.co/bTA4WItVM6

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 12, 2020

“The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.”

I’m not sure how that line from the NYT’s long-delayed coverage of Tara Reade’s accusation can sit alongside reporting that 7 other women have accused Biden of sexual misconduct. https://t.co/CoyGuYXObJ

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) April 12, 2020

The Times offered no explanation for the stealth-edit on its website, so far