A woman named Tara Reade just accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, but this might be the first you’ve heard about it.

In an hour-long interview with journalist and podcaster Katie Halper, Reade says then-Senator Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 when she was working as a Senate staff assistant. Halper first shared an 8-minute snippet of her interview with Reade late Tuesday night, before sharing the entire interview today on her podcast, “The Katie Halper Show.”

Notably, mainstream media outlets are so far declining to cover Reade’s Joe Biden sexual assault allegations in any way.

Let’s start with an excerpt from the interview, to understand what Reade says happened in 1993, when she in her 20s. (TW: The following paragraph includes a description of sexual assault.)

“And he just said, ‘Hey, come here Tara,’ and then I handed him the thing and he greeted me. He remembered my name. And then we were alone, and it was the strangest thing; there was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the wall. And I was wearing, like a skirt, and you know, a business skirt, but I wasn’t wearing stockings. It was kind of a hot day that day, and I was wearing heels. And I remember my legs had been hurting from the marble, you know of the Capitol, like walking. So I remember that kind of stuff. I remember like, I was wearing a blouse and he just had me up against the wall, and the wall was cold. And I remember he — it happened all at once. The gym bag — I don’t know where it went. I handed it to him, it was gone, and then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. And um, yeah, and then, he went, um, he went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he, uh, penetrated me with his fingers.”

The Intercept reported Reade reached out to Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, an organization established in the #MeToo era to help survivors tell their stories, for legal assistance. At first, they took her case. But ultimately, Times Up declined to help, saying they worried assisting a case against a candidate for federal office could jeopardize their nonprofit status.

Meanwhile, Time’s Up’s public relations firm is SKDKnickerbocker, whose managing director Anita Dunn is the top adviser to Biden’s presidential campaign.

Almost no one’s covering the Joe Biden sexual assault allegations. Most media is shockingly silent when it comes to Reade’s allegations. I found out about it from Twitter rather than traditional media.

Halper’s tweet with an 8-minute clip of Reade’s account of Biden sexually assaulting her

Here is a full list of the publications I found who covered this story before me: The Intercept, Democracy Now, Paste Magazine, NewsOne, Reason Magazine, The Blaze, The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and Know Your Meme. Know Your freaking Meme, but not The New York Times or The Washington Post. Not NPR or CNN or MSNBC. Strangely, not even Fox News!

We can speculate about reasons for the virtual media silence. Obviously, many Democrats are afraid bad news about Biden will lead to a second term for Donald Trump. But that doesn’t explain why Fox News isn’t covering this.

Something to keep in mind: There are a lot of powerful men out there with their own shameful secrets. A culture that writes off women’s #MeToo stories is one that protects those men and their power.

In 2019, when Reade spoke out about Biden sexually harassing and inappropriately touching her, journalists (and Twitter trolls) did what they often do when women accuse powerful men of sexual misconduct: they attempted to discredit her. In Reade’s case, they called her a Russian agent, citing since-deleted Medium pieces where she wrote about liking Russia and Putin.

Is it conceivable that someone might think Russia is okay and also be a victim of sexual assault? And what of the seven other women who accused Biden of inappropriate touching last year, starting with Lucy Flores? Were they all Russian agents?

In a statement addressing these women’s allegations, Biden showed no remorse. “In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort. And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately.”

Whether you believe Reade or not, we have all seen photos of “handsy” Joe Biden. How is it possible Biden can look at these same photos, can listen to the voices of all the women who say his unwanted, unconsented-to touches made them uncomfortable, and still say he doesn’t believe he ever once acted inappropriately?

“I was told back then that if I continued to speak out, I would be ‘fucking destroyed’ …and I was destroyed not once but twice.”

And is it any wonder Reade was almost silenced into never telling her story, as she watched the Democratic Party embrace Biden as a front-runner, despite his unapologetic statement and total lack of accountability? Reade wants a Democrat to beat Donald Trump in the election, so she was conflicted about coming forward but felt the need to speak her truth.

In her interview with Halper, Reade says she planned to tell the whole story in April last year:

“I was just gonna tell the whole facts, the whole thing, the whole history with Biden, but the way I was being questioned, it made me so uncomfortable that I didn’t trust it. And no offense to the reporters out there; it’s just maybe that’s something that could be learned, how to talk to somebody who — I just really got shut down. And the narrative really wanted to be that it wasn’t like a sexual thing. Like, don’t do sexual, don’t say it’s — so I was like, Okay, I guess I can’t really say the whole story, the whole history. I can’t tell it. It was hard, but then I was afraid to, and then, rightly so, because just the portion that came out — oh my goodness.”

Sexual assault survivors often don’t come forward about what they’ve been through. They know violators are rarely held accountable, and if they speak out, their own character will be attacked. Many internalize that shame and wonder if what happened to them is their fault (it’s not). Reade felt that shame, and in her case, the people around her actually told her to dress less sexy at work, to wear longer skirts and button up more.

Reade says when Joe Biden allegedly assaulted her, she didn’t file a police report, but she did tell her mother, her brother, and a close friend who worked in Sen. Ted Kennedy’s office. Reade’s mother has since passed away, but Halper spoke to Reade’s brother and also her friend, who both confirmed Reade told them in 1993 that Biden sexually assaulted her.

Reade says her mother encouraged her to make a formal sexual harassment complaint in 1993. She says when she went to her supervisor — to talk about Joe Biden’s sexual harassment, but not the rape — her supervisor said she should be flattered to be liked by Joe Biden, and that she should keep her head down if she wanted to last. Reade talked to other Senate personnel, and she filled out a form about the sexual harassment, but nothing came of it.

In January, Reade wrote on Medium, “I was told back then that if I continued to speak out, I would be ‘fucking destroyed’ …and I was destroyed not once but twice. Perhaps one day there will be a safe way to express what happened. The reason I am writing about it is the hypocrisy that Biden is supposed to be the champion of women’s rights. Also, watch how the media coddles him.”

When I discovered her Medium story today, a total of five people had clapped for it. Five people. Reade has been trying to tell her story for decades, but no one has been listening.

I’m listening now. Are you?