Biden declares sexual assault 'never, never happened'

ALEXANDRA JAFFE and BILL BARROW

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday emphatically denied allegations from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s, declaring flatly that "this never happened."

Biden's first public remarks on the accusation by a former employee, Tara Reade, come at a critical moment for the presumptive Democratic nominee as he tries to relieve mounting pressure after weeks of leaving denials to his campaign.

"I'm saying unequivocally, it never, never happened," the former vice president and sen...