The University of Delaware will not disclose records related to Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault against former Vice President Joe Biden.
On Thursday, Fox News reported that the university, which owns and stores archival records from Biden’s history in public office, declined to provide the records after the outlet submitted records requests under the Freedom of Information Act, citing a provision in the law that exempts the school from requests unrelated to public funds.
Fox News sent three public records requests on April 29 and 30. One asked specifically for any records from 1993 containing the name “Tara Reade” by either first or last name or complaints filed against Biden or any staffer in his Senate office. The second asked for a copy of a “gift agreement” or any other documents between the school and Biden regarding the release of the documents “no sooner than the later date of December 31, 2019, or two years after the donor retires from public life.”
“The documents and correspondence you have requested do not relate to the expenditure of public funds, as defined by FOIA,” said Jennifer Becnel-Guzzo to Fox News, the university’s associate vice president and general counsel.
Fox News also sent a request for any communication between members of the university’s board of trustees, the university’s president, or employees of the university’s library and Biden after March 1 relating to the archival records.
“The candidacy of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. for president and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. senatorial papers were never addressed in a meeting of the full board of trustees,” Becnel-Guzzo said in response to Fox News . “Therefore, the university has no public records responsive to your three requests.”
The university said they will not release any documents related to the former vice president’s career as a senator for Delaware without Biden’s “express consent.”
According to Reade, a former staffer for Biden, the presidential candidate forced himself on her in the spring of 1993, kissing her and penetrating her with his fingers without her consent. Dozens of former Biden staffers have said they never witnessed sexual misconduct by Biden nor heard any allegations before Reade came forward. They told PBS that she still deserves to be heard.
