Tyler Breisacher

As you may have heard, there are new accusations coming out recently, that Joe Biden sexually assaulted a staffer named Tara Reade back in the 90s. The New York Times daily podcast has an episode about the accusations, and their work on trying to determine how credible those accusations are.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/podcasts/the-daily/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation.html

(that link contains the audio as well as a full transcript)

This is the one of the parts that really got my attention. For context, she says she didn’t file a police report at the time, but she did file a formal complaint at a Senate office. The reporter working on this story says:

So amid all this confusion, I remember that there’s one thing that really could cut through all this and clarify exactly what did or did not happen. And that’s this complaint that Tara had told me she filed in 1993 with the Senate office and that someone had written down. So we start trying to track down that complaint. And we call the Federal Office of Personnel Management, and they tell us to file a Freedom of Information request, which would take months, if not years. And anyhow, we don’t really know exactly what we’re asking for, because she doesn’t remember the name of the office where she filed this complaint. We call over to the Senate and we’re able to get some employment records, but not this complaint. So we basically look for this document and come up empty. It’s unfindable in the end.

Sounds like a challenge to me! Even if the FOIA request would take months or years, it’s still worth making the request in my opinion.

Has anyone attempted to find this complaint? Do you know exactly what office within the Senate you would send the FOIA request to? I have a little bit of experience with public records requests, but only at the state/city level, I haven’t tried a federal one yet. I thought I’d ask here if someone has taken any steps already on trying to find this complaint.

Robert Hammond

The assault took place on federal property making it a federal crime that should be reported to and investigated by the FBI. Biden would already be under FBI investigation regarding his security clearance. May not be too late for a Senate ethics investigation.

Congressional records are exempt from FOIA. My understanding.

Russ Kick

Hi Tyler— The FOIA doesn’t apply to Congress or the rest of the Legislative Branch.

Tyler Breisacher

I guess I’m spoiled by our local sunshine rules which apply to pretty much everything :(