'The claims are false': Joe Biden denies he sexually assaulted former Senate Aide Tara Reade

In both a written statement and an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden denied that he sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade in 1993, the first time the presumptive Democratic nominee has personally addressed the allegation in public.

"No, it is not true," Biden said on MSNBC. "I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn't. It never happened... The claims are false."

Biden's denial came as he faced growing pressure to address Reade's allegation that he cornered her in the halls of the U.S. Capitol building and penetrated her with his fingers, a claim that was corroborated by a former neighbor of Reade's in an interview with Business Insider earlier this week.

In a written statement posted to Medium, Biden called on the Secretary of the Senate to request that the National Archives identify and "make available to the press" any complaint filed by Reade.

Reade said she submitted a complaint about Biden to a congressional human resources office.

"There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be—the National Archives," Biden said. "If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there."

This article originally appeared on Common Dreams. You can read it here.