Tara Reade responds after DC police say her sexual assault complaint against Biden is 'inactive'

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Biden remains silent on sexual assault allegation

Fox News contributors Marc Thiessen and Judith Miller weigh in.

The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) told Fox News on Wednesday that Tara Reade's sexual assault complaint against Joe Biden is now "an inactive case," although the department didn't provide additional details -- a result Reade said she expected from the outset.

Reade filed a police report in Washington, D.C., on April 9, after publicly stating on March 25 that Biden had penetrated her with his fingers while she worked for him in the Senate in 1993. The document stated: “Subject-1 disclosed that she was the victim of a sexual assault which was committed by Subject-2 in 1993.”

“This is an inactive case and there are no additional details to provide," MPD spokesperson Brianna Jordan told Fox News on Wednesday.

TIMELINE SHOWS MEDIA, DEMS TREATED KAVANAUGH MATTER VERY DIFFERENTLY

Reade's claims were outside of the range of Washington, D.C.'s statute of limitations for even the most severe sex crimes. Previously, though, the department had indicated it was looking into the matter.

"This is an active, ongoing investigation that is part of our regular review process,” MPD public affairs officer Kristen Metzger told The Daily Caller on April 22, noting that the matter had been transferred to the MPD sexual assault unit. Police had launched the investigation as part of an "external review" process, despite the statute of limitations that bars any prosecution.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton welcomes Vice President Joe Biden as he disembarks from Air Force Two for a joint campaign event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, August 15, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller - S1AETVPNGAAC

Reade told Fox News that she understood when she filed the complaint that the matter would not result in criminal charges.

"I've made a police report for safety reasons only," Reade said. "I am outside the criminal statute of limitations. However, by making that police report, it allows a mechanism for me to safety plan and work with a victim advocate. I am willing to cooperate with any law enforcement if there is any inquiry or investigation in the future."

Senate Democrats and media outlets have been mostly silent on Reade's claims, even though they called for an immediate FBI investigation into claims against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Reade, however, has presented substantially more corroborating evidence than Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

Biden himself hasn't addressed the allegation against him, and no one in the media has asked him about it during interviews. Representatives for Biden's campaign have denied the allegations, even as some Democrats have urged Biden to address the matter himself. On Wednesday, amid an increasing uproar, The Washington Post editorial board argued that Biden should at least release some records from his Senate career, currently held at the University of Delaware -- records that might show Reade had made a formal complaint against him.

COMPARING READE'S CASE TO CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD'S

Earlier Wednesday, The New York Times rebuked the Biden campaign, telling Fox News that the campaign was apparently circulating talking points to top Democrats that "inaccurately" described the paper's reporting. The talking points falsely claimed that the Times had disproven Reade's accusations, when it actually found some corroboration.

Business Insider, The Intercept, and Newsbusters have separately found additional contemporaneous corroboration for Reade's claims, including footage showing Reade's mother calling into "Larry King Live" to discuss an incident involving her daughter and a prominent senator.

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The Times had earlier stealth-edited its coverage of the Biden accusations at the request of the Biden campaign. The paper specifically removed a section of its reporting referring to numerous other episodes in which Biden was accused of inappropriate touching -- including one instance in which he was caught on camera touching young girls and making them visibly uncomfortable.

"I think that the [Biden] campaign thought that the phrasing was awkward and made it look like there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual misconduct," The Times' executive editor, Dean Baquet, admitted the day after the article was published.

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."

Baquet also struggled to explain why his paper had waited weeks to even report on Reade's allegations. Baquet implied that Kavanaugh was urgently in the public spotlight, while Biden -- who was locking up the Democratic presidential nomination as Reade's claim surfaced -- somehow was not in the public eye.

"Kavanaugh was already in a public forum in a large way," Baquet said. "Kavanaugh was in a very different situation. It was a live, ongoing story that had become the biggest political story in the country. It was just a different news judgment moment."

Biden has previously said he would change his interactions with women going forward, but stopped short of apologizing for his conduct.

Fox News' Patrick Ward and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.