buzzfeed--2020-04-29--Democrats Will Have To Answer Questions About Tara Reade. The Biden Campaign Is Advising Them To Say

Democrats Will Have To Answer Questions About Tara Reade. The Biden Campaign Is Advising Them To Say Her Story “Did Not Happen.”

While Joe Biden has remained publicly silent about a sexual assault allegation made against him , his presidential campaign has sought to coordinate and unify Democratic messaging on the matter , advising surrogates earlier this month to say that the allegation “ did not happen.
” The Biden campaign circulated talking points among top Democratic supporters shortly after the New York Times published a story earlier this month about the allegation by Tara Reade , a former staff assistant in Biden ’ s Senate office who says he assaulted her in 1993 .
With good news and bad , talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In substance , the private guidance largely hews to the sole public statement on the matter from Biden ’ s deputy campaign manager , Kate Bedingfield .
But the messaging shows that while Biden has stayed quiet on the allegations on the eve of his nomination , aides were taking the claims seriously enough behind the scenes to coordinate messaging among other Democrats to try to cast the matter as one that ’ s been thoroughly vetted and determined to be unfounded .
“ Biden believes that all women have the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims thoroughly reviewed , ” the talking points read , according to a copy sent to two Democratic operatives .
“ In this case , a thorough review by the New York Times has led to the truth : this incident did not happen.
” “ Here ’ s the bottom line , ” they read .
“ Vice President Joe Biden has spent over 40 years in public life : 36 years in the Senate ; 7 Senate campaigns , 2 previous presidential runs , two vice presidential campaigns , and 8 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has never been a complaint , allegation , hint or rumor of any impropriety or inappropriate conduct like this regarding him — ever.
” Democrats are in an increasingly precarious position as reporters assess Reade ’ s allegation .
By any measure of the # MeToo movement that has seen the Democratic Party embrace “ believe women ” as a mantra , Reade , 56 , has provided a serious account , disputed by Biden ’ s campaign and former senior staffers who worked in his office in 1993 but corroborated in part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the 1990s .
This week , after Reade said her late mother had called Larry King Live about the incident , the Intercept published a transcript showing she called in to ask for advice about her daughter ’ s negative experience with a “ prominent senator.
” Since news outlets began to investigate her claims , Biden has participated in more than a dozen television interviews and virtual fundraisers but has not addressed Reade ’ s allegation himself .
The guidance to top Democrats , according to a copy of the talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden as a lifelong “ fierce advocate for women ” and the claims as unequivocally untrue , leaning heavily on the April 12 report by the New York Times outlining the allegations by Reade .
Biden ’ s campaign ’ s talking points say the Times story served as proof that Reade ’ s allegation “ did not happen ” — but the story did not conclude this , nor did it conclude that an assault definitively did happen .
The Times reported that three former Senate aides , all of whom Reade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , either did not remember the incident or said that it did not happen .
The Times also spoke to former interns who said they did remember Reade suddenly ceasing to oversee them , aligning with Reade ’ s claim that she was pulled from that duty .
Reade has said that Biden digitally penetrated her in a Senate hallway and told her , “ You ’ re nothing to me.
” In multiple interviews with several outlets , Reade has said she complained to others in Biden ’ s office , filed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate personnel office , and said she was demoted after the incident .
Reade stood by her recollections in interviews with BuzzFeed News this month .
“ All four of the people Mrs. Reade says were notified of an official complaint told the New York Times on the record that they have absolutely no recollection of any such conversation , ” the Biden campaign told Democrats , echoing testimonials from former staffers who have painted the claims as “ so wildly out of character for Joe Biden.
” The Biden campaign also pointed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead role in crafting the Violence Against Women Act , the landmark 1994 bill that significantly increased funding for the prosecution of violent crimes against women .
In a livestreamed event with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday , billed as a “ Women ’ s Town Hall , ” the Biden campaign began a Q & A session with a question from a voter about women stuck in abusive relationships , now stuck at home in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ Violence against women is a huge problem , and especially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calling domestic violence prevention “ one of the leading causes of my life.
” Last year , when other women came forward to say Biden touched them in a way that was uncomfortable , Reade told the Union , a California newspaper , that while she worked for Biden , the then-senator touched her neck and shoulders .
She also told the paper that Biden wanted her to serve drinks at one of his events because he liked her legs .
When she refused , she said , her responsibilities were reduced .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 1993 assault earlier this year .
The story began to gain momentum outside the mainstream media when Reade went on the podcast of Katie Halper , a left-wing commentator , in late March , and described the more serious allegation of sexual assault .
The Intercept reported in March that the Time 's Up initiative declined to fund her allegation when she approached the group earlier this year ; the Intercept also recently reported that Reade ’ s mother made the call to Larry King Live in 1993 .
The fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the left-wing independent media led some Biden defenders to dismiss the story as a plot by disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters to hurt Biden .
But the story has gone mainstream , being covered in outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post , both of which gave a serious assessment of Reade ’ s claim .
Business Insider reporter Rich McHugh , an investigative journalist who served as a producer on Ronan Farrow ’ s Harvey Weinstein reporting at NBC News , has identified more people who have corroborated elements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people include a former neighbor of Reade ’ s who said they discussed the assault allegation at the time and a former colleague who said Reade had told her about more general harassment .
In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Tuesday , Reade said she “ would like to know what [ Biden and his campaign ] think about the reporting of Rich McHugh , who was formerly reporting on the Weinstein case and is a well-renowned investigative reporter .
What is their comment on the Business Insider articles that did a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve asserted that resulted in multiple corroborations on the record of what I experienced of sexual harassment and sexual assault by Joe Biden ?
” The two Democratic operatives who received the talking points earlier this month following the publication of the New York Times report said they had yet to receive further guidance from the Biden campaign .
Reached for comment on Tuesday night , the Biden campaign pointed to the statement issued by Bedingfield , the deputy campaign manager , dated April 13 : “ Vice President Biden has dedicated his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the laws around violence against women .
He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act .
He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully .
Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press .
What is clear about this claim : it is untrue .
This absolutely did not happen . ''
In line with the guidance from Biden ’ s campaign , Democrats who have been asked about the story in recent weeks have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other stories , including in the Washington Post and Associated Press , featuring denials by the three former Senate aides : two top staffers , Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman , as well as Biden ’ s executive assistant from 1982 to 2000 , Marianne Baker .
`` I think this case has been investigated , ” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an MSNBC interview earlier this month , pointing to the New York Times article a few days after its publication .
Klobuchar , the Minnesota Democrat , dropped out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ March .
Before the pandemic shut down campaign events , she was one of his most active supporters , holding rallies for his campaign as he sought to defeat Sanders in the primary .
“ I know the vice president as a major leader on domestic abuse .
I worked with him on that .
And I think that , again , the viewers should read the article .
It was very thorough.
” Other Democrats have defended Biden as a trusted advocate for women , particularly in a race against President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than a dozen acts of sexual misconduct , including assault .
Sen. Kamala Harris said in a recent podcast interview that Reade “ has a right to tell her story ” and that she could “ only speak to the Joe Biden I know .
He ’ s been a lifelong fighter , in terms of stopping violence against women.
” “ Vice President Biden has a strong record for fighting for women in his life , ” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand , a fierce # MeToo advocate , in a radio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are right now at the investigation stage of the allegation.
” The talking points obtained by BuzzFeed News are printed below :

While Joe Biden has remained publicly silent about a sexual assault allegation made against him, his presidential campaign has sought to coordinate and unify Democratic messaging on the matter, advising surrogates earlier this month to say that the allegation “did not happen.”
The Biden campaign circulated talking points among top Democratic supporters shortly after the New York Times published a story earlier this month about the allegation by Tara Reade, a former staff assistant in Biden’s Senate office who says he assaulted her in 1993.
With good news and bad, talking points are standard fare on presidential campaigns. In substance, the private guidance largely hews to the sole public statement on the matter from Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield.
But the messaging shows that while Biden has stayed quiet on the allegations on the eve of his nomination, aides were taking the claims seriously enough behind the scenes to coordinate messaging among other Democrats to try to cast the matter as one that’s been thoroughly vetted and determined to be unfounded.
“Biden believes that all women have the right to be heard and to have their claims thoroughly reviewed,” the talking points read, according to a copy sent to two Democratic operatives. “In this case, a thorough review by the New York Times has led to the truth: this incident did not happen.”
“Here’s the bottom line,” they read. “Vice President Joe Biden has spent over 40 years in public life: 36 years in the Senate; 7 Senate campaigns, 2 previous presidential runs, two vice presidential campaigns, and 8 years in the White House. There has never been a complaint, allegation, hint or rumor of any impropriety or inappropriate conduct like this regarding him — ever.”
Democrats are in an increasingly precarious position as reporters assess Reade’s allegation. By any measure of the #MeToo movement that has seen the Democratic Party embrace “believe women” as a mantra, Reade, 56, has provided a serious account, disputed by Biden’s campaign and former senior staffers who worked in his office in 1993 but corroborated in part by people she told about the incident in the 1990s. This week, after Reade said her late mother had called Larry King Live about the incident, the Intercept published a transcript showing she called in to ask for advice about her daughter’s negative experience with a “prominent senator.”
Since news outlets began to investigate her claims, Biden has participated in more than a dozen television interviews and virtual fundraisers but has not addressed Reade’s allegation himself.
The guidance to top Democrats casts Biden as a lifelong “fierce advocate for women” and the claims as unequivocally untrue, leaning heavily on the April 12 report by the New York Times outlining the allegations by Reade.
Biden’s campaign’s talking points say the Times story served as proof that Reade’s allegation “did not happen” — but the story did not conclude this, nor did it conclude that an assault definitively did happen. The Times reported that three former Senate aides, all of whom Reade said she complained to at the time, either did not remember the incident or said that it did not happen. The Times also spoke to former interns who said they did remember Reade suddenly ceasing to oversee them, aligning with Reade’s claim that she was pulled from that duty.
Reade has said that Biden digitally penetrated her in a Senate hallway and told her, “You’re nothing to me.” In multiple interviews with several outlets, Reade has said she complained to others in Biden’s office, filed a report at the time to a Senate personnel office, and said she was demoted after the incident. Reade stood by her recollections in interviews with BuzzFeed News this month.
“All four of the people Mrs. Reade says were notified of an official complaint told the New York Times on the record that they have absolutely no recollection of any such conversation,” the Biden campaign told Democrats, echoing testimonials from former staffers who have painted the claims as “so wildly out of character for Joe Biden.”
The Biden campaign also pointed to the former vice president’s lead role in crafting the Violence Against Women Act, the landmark 1994 bill that significantly increased funding for the prosecution of violent crimes against women. In a livestreamed event with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, billed as a “Women’s Town Hall,” the Biden campaign began a Q&A session with a question from a voter about women stuck in abusive relationships, now stuck at home in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Violence against women is a huge problem, and especially right now,” Biden said, calling domestic violence prevention “one of the leading causes of my life.”
Last year, when other women came forward to say Biden touched them in a way that was uncomfortable, Reade told the Union, a California newspaper, that while she worked for Biden, the then-senator touched her neck and shoulders. She also told the paper that Biden wanted her to serve drinks at one of his events because he liked her legs. When she refused, she said, her responsibilities were reduced.
Reade first publicly described her recollection of the 1993 assault earlier this year.
The story began to gain momentum outside the mainstream media when Reade went on the podcast of Katie Halper, a left-wing commentator, in late March, and described the more serious allegation of sexual assault. The Intercept reported in March that the Time's Up initiative declined to fund her allegation when she approached the group earlier this year; the Intercept also recently reported that Reade’s mother made the call to Larry King Live in 1993.
The fact that Reade’s story first gained traction in the left-wing independent media led some Biden defenders to dismiss it as a plot by disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters to hurt Biden. But the story has gone mainstream, being covered in outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which gave a serious assessment of Reade’s claim.
Business Insider reporter Rich McHugh, an investigative journalist who served as a producer on Ronan Farrow’s Harvey Weinstein reporting at NBC News, has identified more people who have corroborated elements of Reade’s claim. Those people include a former neighbor of Reade’s who said they discussed the assault allegation at the time and a former colleague who said Reade had told her about more general harassment.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, Reade said she “would like to know what [Biden and his campaign] think about the reporting of Rich McHugh, who was formerly reporting on the Weinstein case and is a well-renowned investigative reporter. What is their comment on the Business Insider articles that did a deep dive investigation into what I’ve asserted that resulted in multiple corroborations on the record of what I experienced of sexual harassment and sexual assault by Joe Biden?”
The two Democratic operatives who received the talking points earlier this month following the publication of the New York Times report said they had yet to receive further guidance from the Biden campaign.
Reached for comment on Tuesday night, the Biden campaign pointed to the statement issued by Bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager, dated April 13: “Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen."
In line with the guidance from Biden’s campaign, Democrats who have been asked about the story in recent weeks have pointed to the New York Times report and other stories, including in the Washington Post and the Associated Press, featuring denials by the three former Senate aides: two top staffers, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman, as well as Biden’s executive assistant from 1982 to 2000, Marianne Baker.
"I think this case has been investigated,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an MSNBC interview earlier this month, pointing to the New York Times article a few days after its publication.
Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, dropped out of the presidential race to endorse Biden in March. Before the pandemic shut down campaign events, she was one of his most active supporters, holding rallies for his campaign as he sought to defeat Sanders in the primary.
“I know the vice president as a major leader on domestic abuse. I worked with him on that. And I think that, again, the viewers should read the article. It was very thorough.”
Other Democrats have defended Biden as a trusted advocate for women, particularly in a race against President Donald Trump, who has been accused of more than a dozen acts of sexual misconduct, including assault.
Sen. Kamala Harris said in a recent podcast interview that Reade “has a right to tell her story” and that she could “only speak to the Joe Biden I know. He’s been a lifelong fighter, in terms of stopping violence against women.”
“Vice President Biden has a strong record for fighting for women in his life,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a fierce #MeToo advocate, in a radio interview earlier this month.
“We are right now at the investigation stage of the allegation.”
The talking points obtained by BuzzFeed News are printed below:


buzzfeed--2020-04-28--The Coronavirus Is Forcing The Progressive Movement To Rethink Its Entire Strategy

“ The message of our campaign — that we are all as vulnerable as the most vulnerable among us — has been crystallized by this crisis.
” WASHINGTON — On an average day , Mckayla Wilkes starts early .
She ’ s currently homeschooling her two kids because of the coronavirus outbreak , so the mornings are filled with working with her young daughter on recognizing the alphabet and juggling her son ’ s math , science , social studies , and reading assignments .
After two to three hours of schoolwork , Wilkes , 29 , who ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four to five hours of “ call time ” to fundraise for her campaign .
After that , it ’ s back to homeschooling .
“ I was always a multitasker , but this is a whole ‘ nother level of multitasking , ” she said during a recent interview with BuzzFeed News .
“ It 's kind of like doing everything all at once — like , I 'll be doing call time , but then , you know , my 5-year-old will come in and want a sandwich.
” Wilkes is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer , the second-most powerful Democrat in the House .
Originally , the election was scheduled for April 28 , but due to the coronavirus , voting is now scheduled for June 2 .
For months , Wilkes and her team knocked on thousands of doors in the district , hoping to re-create the success of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , who took down a powerful House Democrat two years ago .
But now Wilkes and her team are forced to work from home , and the organizing strategy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She ’ s not alone .
Other progressive primary challengers across the country who have relied on door-knocking and in-person events to overcome well-funded incumbents say they have had to retool their campaign strategies , focus on vote-by-mail efforts , and make additional fundraising calls to keep their campaigns running as the pandemic rages globally .
“ Campaigning during COVID is campaigning how all grassroots campaigns start out , ” Wilkes said .
“ Because in the beginning , you do n't have money , you have to use social media , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you have to kind of , you know , build your base , so that you can get money to knock on doors .
And so we 've reverted back to how we began the campaign.
” To connect with voters during this time , Wilkes and her campaign manager , Dash Yeatts-Lonske , said , campaign staff and volunteers are phone-banking daily .
Wilkes also holds virtual events on Facebook Live , something other progressive challengers , including Morgan Harper , who ’ s running against incumbent Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ success with .
“ When you ’ re a grassroots campaign , the whole name of the game is bringing people together physically to organize , ” Harper told BuzzFeed News .
“ But we can do this digitally , and that has been an adjustment that we 've been able to make really well , and our team has been able to make , by doing conference calls and all that — like a lot of people are doing — and I am in many ways more optimistic than ever.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we are all as vulnerable as the most vulnerable among us — has been crystallized by this crisis , ” Harper said .
Originally , Harper ’ s election was scheduled for March 17 , but last month , it was moved to Tuesday .
“ We did n't do a ton of Facebook Live before this extended campaign period , and we ’ ve certainly stepped those up given that we ca n't hold our weekly in-person community rallies like we had been doing , ” Harper said during a recent interview @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was first moved , Harper said there wasn ’ t a lot of clarity .
The campaign worked to connect with community organizations like Meals on Wheels to deliver food to people in need , and once the new election plan was clear , the team prepared to help people successfully vote by mail .
“ That 's a huge transition , because most people do n't vote by mail and the absentee process here is complicated , ” she said .
“ A lot of people we knew were going to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and it 's confusing , and they also have a lot of other things going on , so we were very concerned about disenfranchisement.
” “ We had about eight quote-unquote normal months of campaigning … we were crisscrossing the district every single day , multiple times a day doing , you know , town halls and meet-and-greets and meeting with Democratic city and town committees , and going to cafés and just meeting people where they 're at and talking about our message and converting people that may have been skeptical , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with BuzzFeed News .
The campaign was really hitting its stride , Morse said , right as the coronavirus outbreak forced everyone inside , out of cafés and town halls and other traditional campaign meeting places .
The Massachusetts congressional primaries are still months away , however , and Morse hopes that before their Sept. 1 Election Day , the campaign will be able to get back outside and into the community .
But for now , he says , “ We have to we have to operate under , you know , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's do everything we can given this pandemic and ... the constraints that we 're under.
’ ” As part of that , Morse ’ s campaign has started doing community wellness phone-banking events .
Campaign volunteers have been calling residents in the district to make sure they are connected with community programs should they need help during the outbreak , and just to check in .
“ You know , ‘ How are you doing ?
Are you holding up ?
Is there anything we can help connect you with ?
’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Then , they talk about what Morse is doing as mayor of Holyoke , a town in the district , explain he ’ s running for Congress , and talk to people about their concerns .
“ I think we 've noticed that people appreciate just simple questions like ‘ How are you doing ?
’ ” the mayor noted .
Then , he said , “ [ They ’ re ] having a conversation about the campaign and actually using that as an opportunity to identify support.
” Because everyone is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters also seem to be picking up the phone more often and are more willing to talk at length .
And candidates also said they believe the coronavirus outbreak has made voters more sympathetic to progressive ideas in general .
“ The crisis has illuminated the already existing inequities in our community and in our district , and it 's also illuminated the brokenness of our political system on all sides of the aisle in that there 's a consistent failure to meet the moment , ” Morse said .
“ Congressman Neal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — is the biggest obstacle to health care being a human right in the country .
As long as he 's chair of the Ways and Means Committee , we will not have Medicare for All .
Health care will not be a human right.
” Morse says he feels it ’ s particularly relevant right now in his district , because of how dangerous the coronavirus can be for people with asthma — and Springfield , Massachusetts , the largest city in the district , is the asthma capital of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noticed a similar sentiment in her own district .
“ A lot of people [ who ] are going through this have n't been through this before , but for so many other people this is just another day to them , ” Wilkes said .
“ Before COVID , we had people struggling to put food on the table , sending their kids to school and [ hoping ] that 's how they 're going to get their meals for that day .
We already had people saying , ‘ How am @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
What if I get sick ?
I do n't have health insurance.
’ ” More and more people are losing employer-sponsored health insurance , worried about their finances , and unsure how they ’ ll be able to feed their families , as 26.5 million people in the US have filed for unemployment , and others are seeing their hours cut or wages decreased .
“ It is completely expedient to have someone that has progressive values in office on all levels of government , because this pandemic is not going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said she tells voters .
“ And it 's like , who do you want fighting for you during this pandemic ?
Do you want someone who 's not going to be bold , who 's going to be pulled into corporate interests , or do you want to have someone that 's going to fight for you ?
” Progressive challengers have had mixed successes so far in 2020 .
Jessica Cisneros , the first candidate recruited and endorsed by Justice Democrats ( one of the groups that helped Ocasio-Cortez ) this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in the House — earlier this spring .
But Marie Newman , another Justice Democrats candidate , successfully toppled another anti-abortion Democrat , Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois , not long after .
And in addition to now having to deal with the coronavirus , progressive campaigns have also lost their most ideologically compatible presidential candidate in the Democratic primary in recent weeks .
But , perhaps counterintuitively , Harper , Wilkes , and Morse all said that since Sen. Bernie Sanders exited the race , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fundraising numbers .
“ We 've just gotten like a huge burst of energy , ” Wilkes said .
“ People were eager to come and volunteer with us .
A lot of people were like , you know , basically saying that they 're going to focus a lot more on down-ballot races .
… It brought us a fundraising surge and then also a volunteer surge .
”

“The crisis has illuminated the already existing inequities in our community and in our district, and it's also illuminated the brokenness of our political system on all sides of the aisle in that there's a consistent failure to meet the moment,” Morse said. “Congressman Neal — and this is not an exaggeration — is the biggest obstacle to health care being a human right in the country. As long as he's chair of the Ways and Means Committee, we will not have Medicare for All. Health care will not be a human right.”
(In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Neal campaign spokesperson Kate Norton said, "After ending last quarter more than $1 million short of his campaign's stated fundraising goal, Alex is clearly desperate and willing to say whatever it takes to get any attention, no matter how outlandish.")
Morse says he feels it’s particularly relevant right now in his district, because of how dangerous the coronavirus can be for people with asthma — and Springfield, Massachusetts, the largest city in the district, is the asthma capital of the United States.
Wilkes said she’s noticed a similar sentiment in her own district.
“A lot of people [who] are going through this haven't been through this before, but for so many other people this is just another day to them,” Wilkes said. “Before COVID, we had people struggling to put food on the table, sending their kids to school and [hoping] that's how they're going to get their meals for that day. We already had people saying, ‘How am I going to go to the doctor? What if I get sick? I don't have health insurance.’”
More and more people are losing employer-sponsored health insurance, worried about their finances, and unsure how they’ll be able to feed their families, as 26.5 million people in the US have filed for unemployment, and others are seeing their hours cut or wages decreased.
“It is completely expedient to have someone that has progressive values in office on all levels of government, because this pandemic is not going to go away anytime soon,” Wilkes said she tells voters. “And it's like, who do you want fighting for you during this pandemic? Do you want someone who's not going to be bold, who's going to be pulled into corporate interests, or do you want to have someone that's going to fight for you?”
Progressive challengers have had mixed successes so far in 2020. Jessica Cisneros, the first candidate recruited and endorsed by Justice Democrats (one of the groups that helped Ocasio-Cortez) this cycle, lost to Rep. Henry Cuellar — one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in the House — earlier this spring. But Marie Newman, another Justice Democrats candidate, successfully toppled another anti-abortion Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois, not long after.
And in addition to now having to deal with the coronavirus, progressive campaigns have also lost their most ideologically compatible presidential candidate in the Democratic primary in recent weeks. But, perhaps counterintuitively, Harper, Wilkes, and Morse all said that since Sen. Bernie Sanders exited the race, their campaigns have seen increased volunteers and fundraising numbers.
“We've just gotten like a huge burst of energy,” Wilkes said. “People were eager to come and volunteer with us. A lot of people were like, you know, basically saying that they're going to focus a lot more on down-ballot races. … It brought us a fundraising surge and then also a volunteer surge.”


buzzfeed--2020-04-29--A US Lawmaker’s Wine Empire Gave Employees A Coronavirus Pay Raise — Then Took It Away

Rep. David Trone ’ s Total Wine & More quietly ended its $ 2-an-hour raise for frontline employees , even as much of the country remains at home .
David Trone , a Democratic member of Congress from Maryland , has positioned himself as a protector of frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic .
In recent days , he has tweeted about “ connecting with labor leaders ” to help “ provide support for the labor community ” and posted a masked selfie of himself waiting in his car to vote to help “ workers impacted by this crisis.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and owns announced an important benefit for its own essential employees : a $ 2-an-hour pay raise .
But a few weeks later , Trone ’ s multibillion-dollar company , Total Wine & More — the country ’ s largest privately owned wine , beer , and liquor retailer , with 206 stores in 24 states — reversed course .
In a confidential memo obtained by BuzzFeed News , Total Wine ’ s chief stores officer informed its managers — but not its rank-and-file employees — that the company was “ not continuing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due in part because of “ trends in the business and external environment.
” “ We are unable to predict the long-term impact COVID-19 will have on our business and the economy , ” the memo read .
“ We are doing all we can to ensure that we stay open and continue to be a growing business.
” BuzzFeed News spoke with nine Total Wine employees across the country , who said they were infuriated with the decision .
Those who asked managers for more information got little in the way of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for taking it away , ” said Antonio Arguinzoni , who works at a Total Wine store in Sacramento .
“ They just said it was stopping and everyone was going back to minimum or hourly wage.
” That week , Total Wine employees who met certain conditions did get a $ 25 wine voucher , an offering some viewed as an insulting consolation prize .
If you 're an essential worker with a story to tell , we ’ d love to hear from you .
Email katie.baker @ buzzfeed.com or reach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ channels .
Total Wine workers told BuzzFeed News that despite the memo ’ s reference to economic uncertainty , sales at their stores are at unprecedented highs for this time of year — thanks to employees ’ work safely navigating in-store purchases , quickly launching a new curbside pickup service while being barred from collecting tips , and keeping track of so many delivery orders that they can barely keep shelves stocked .
Many employees pointed out that new safety precautions were implemented the same week their raise was withdrawn .
“ As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be negative , but it ’ s hard to be positive right now , ” one California employee said .
“ Why did you guys take away the hazard pay , but yet you ’ re saying now it ’ s mandatory that we wear gloves and masks ?
” At many of the country ’ s major grocers and retailers — including Costco , Walmart , Kroger , CVS , Target , Whole Foods , Safeway , Albertsons , and Amazon — hazard pay has become a common way to reward essential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they face while much of the rest of the country stays at home .
But exactly how long these measures will stay in place is an open question .
Some companies , such as Kroger and Target , have said they will give workers hazard pay until the end of May , but others haven ’ t been as clear .
The Total Wine memo said the company set its pay raise to last 28 days .
A Total Wine spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the extra $ 2 an hour was “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be hazard pay ” but meant to help employees “ during a surge in business.
” “ It was a recognition of the hard work that our team members were doing , '' he said .
“ It wasn ’ t hazard pay , it was just recognition that things had gotten busier.
” While some Total Wine stores might still be experiencing record sales , that ’ s not true across the country , he said , although he declined to provide financial figures .
“ Business is returning back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This was a surge , and the surge subsided.
” In a statement , the spokesperson added that the company moved quickly to keep workers safe during the pandemic , “ in many instances well before others did so , ” and has made “ substantial investments in additional hiring and employee benefits.
” Total Wine has hired 1,400 new workers since mid-February , he said .
A spokesperson for Rep. Trone declined to comment , referring all questions to Total Wine .
Rep. Trone co-owns the company with his brother .
Earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Thank You ” week to celebrate its hardworking employees .
Major winemakers and celebrities like George Strait , the country music star who has his own tequila line , recorded messages of gratitude for employees in a gesture that felt insincere to some .
“ Instead of an extra $ 2 an hour , we get a handful of minutelong messages of thanks piped into our headsets every day , ” one employee said .
“ I wonder why they felt the need to start this program a week after hazard pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like a ‘ let them eat cake ’ moment.
” Unlike competitors such as BevMo , Total Wine is still open for in-store browsing in states where that ’ s allowed .
One Arizona employee said popular annual promotions that require physical in-store coupons were still happening despite the pandemic .
“ We have cashiers breaking down and crying in the bathroom because they can not take almost every customer getting within 6 feet to complete their transaction , ” he said .
To keep up with increased demand , some workers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told BuzzFeed News that he typically offers wine tastings but is now restocking warehouses in the middle of the night .
Others said they have had to scramble to get permission to buy crucial items , such as cleaning materials , because they cost more than normal budgets allow .
Some customers have offered staffers generous tips — as much as $ 50 for staying open .
But under company policy , accepting tips is a fireable offense , even during the pandemic .
One customer was so persistent , an employee said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gave it to his manager .
He was too afraid to risk his job .
All the while , they ’ re reading astounding daily sales reports , employees from Missouri to Wisconsin said .
Two employees provided documents showing that as of late April sales remained higher than usual for this time of year .
“ We are 100 % –150 % over projecting every day , and we ’ re all overworked and being asked to do more than normal , ” a third employee said .
Total Wine 's annual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billion .
Trone spent millions of his own money to run for Congress in 2018 .
“ Two dollars an employee is not going to hurt this company when they are profiting , ” said one Missouri employee .
The extra money , paired with overtime hours , was really helping him get by , he said .
Total Wine has “ worked hard to ensure we are viewed as an essential business , ” the confidential memo said .
Indeed , employees in four states said their stores had frantically stocked up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which they don ’ t typically offer in bulk but are more obviously essential than alcohol .
One store in Nevada was selling 28-packs , available online for around $ 5 , for $ 21 .
Some employees said their stores purchased food items like tuna and tomato sauce , even though before the pandemic they only sold cocktail-friendly snacks , such as crackers , chips , and mini salamis .
Nine stores were ultimately shut down by local regulators , the memo said .
One Nevada store refused to close and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ license .
An employee in Nevada said her store lied to customers by claiming it had a grocery store license .
“ We all felt very uncomfortable about it , ” she said .
Total Wine did not comment on these allegations .
The April 14 memo from Chief Stores Officer Troy Rice , addressed from Bethesda headquarters and marked “ Private and Confidential , ” said the company deployed the temporary raise to ensure “ we recognized our teams for the significant surge in traffic ” that the pandemic triggered , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were on the front lines.
” Since then , the memo said , Total Wine had made stores safer by implementing new safety and cleaning procedures , including a daily captainship for health and safety monitoring “ called the COVID Captain.
” The company also enhanced its paid sick leave policy .
The memo also noted that “ business trends have shifted significantly over the past 30 days , ” adding that customers were shifting to online purchasing .
That wouldn ’ t stop Total Wine from continuing to open new stores , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in digital business is driving a decline ” in in-store “ point of sale ” transactions , he said , reducing “ the customers flowing through our stores by a significant amount.
” Given the uncertain future , the company must do all it can “ to ensure that we stay open and continue to be a growing business.
” That meant in part that the raises had to go .
The Arizona employee said he didn ’ t buy this explanation .
“ Whose future isn ’ t uncertain ?
” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every time I come to work.
” Trone , who was elected to Congress in 2018 , is still listed as an owner on the company ’ s website .

David Trone, a Democratic member of Congress from Maryland, has positioned himself as a protector of frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic. In recent days, he has tweeted about “connecting with labor leaders” to help “provide support for the labor community” and posted a masked selfie of himself waiting in his car to vote to help “workers impacted by this crisis.” In mid-March, the company he cofounded and owns announced an important benefit for its own essential employees: a $2-an-hour pay raise.
But a few weeks later, Trone’s multibillion-dollar company, Total Wine & More — the country’s largest privately owned wine, beer, and liquor retailer, with 206 stores in 24 states — reversed course.
In a confidential memo obtained by BuzzFeed News, Total Wine’s chief stores officer informed its managers — but not its rank-and-file employees — that the company was “not continuing” the coronavirus raises for hourly workers due in part because of “trends in the business and external environment.”
“We are unable to predict the long-term impact COVID-19 will have on our business and the economy,” the memo read. “We are doing all we can to ensure that we stay open and continue to be a growing business.”
BuzzFeed News spoke with nine Total Wine employees across the country, who said they were infuriated with the decision. Those who asked managers for more information got little in the way of answers. “There was no justification for taking it away,” said Antonio Arguinzoni, who works at a Total Wine store in Sacramento. “They just said it was stopping and everyone was going back to minimum or hourly wage.” That week, Total Wine employees who met certain conditions did get a $25 wine voucher, an offering some viewed as an insulting consolation prize.
If you're an essential worker with a story to tell, we’d love to hear from you. Email katie.baker@buzzfeed.com or reach out via one of our tip line channels.
Total Wine workers told BuzzFeed News that despite the memo’s reference to economic uncertainty, sales at their stores are at unprecedented highs for this time of year — thanks to employees’ work safely navigating in-store purchases, quickly launching a new curbside pickup service while being barred from collecting tips, and keeping track of so many delivery orders that they can barely keep shelves stocked. Many employees pointed out that new safety precautions were implemented the same week their raise was withdrawn.
“As a manager, I try not to be negative, but it’s hard to be positive right now,” one California employee said. “Why did you guys take away the hazard pay, but yet you’re saying now it’s mandatory that we wear gloves and masks?”
At many of the country’s major grocers and retailers — including Costco, Walmart, Kroger, CVS, Target, Whole Foods, Safeway, Albertsons, and Amazon — hazard pay has become a common way to reward essential workers for the extra public health risks they face while much of the rest of the country stays at home.
But exactly how long these measures will stay in place is an open question. Some companies, such as Kroger and Target, have said they will give workers hazard pay until the end of May, but others haven’t been as clear.


buzzfeed--2020-04-30--Rudy Giuliani, The Right-Wing Media, And Conspiracy Theorists Are Using American Grants To Chinese L

Rudy Giuliani, The Right-Wing Media, And Conspiracy Theorists Are Using American Grants To Chinese Labs To Undermine Anthony Fauci. Here's What They Are Missing.

BuzzFeed News has reporters across five continents bringing you trustworthy stories about the impact of the coronavirus .
To help keep this news free , become a member and sign up for our newsletter , Outbreak Today .
Right-wing media and conspiracy theorists have seized on a series of grants awarded over the course of six years to study coronaviruses to undermine Dr. Anthony Fauci , the immunologist who ’ s been at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 .
The narrative moved to the spotlight at the White House when , during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a reporter with Newsmax asked President Donald Trump about the grants , totaling $ 3.7 million since 2014 .
The Daily Mail , a British tabloid known for publishing unreliable stories , first reported the $ 3.7 million figure on April 11 .
The paper wrote a story on the funding , parts of which went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China .
Although the article stated that there ’ s no evidence the novel coronavirus leaked from the lab , it implied a correlation between the grants and the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute was experimenting on bats from the area already known to be the source of COVID-19 — and doing so with American money — has sparked further fears that the lab , and not the market , is the original outbreak source . ''
Those questions have had real effects .
Politico reported on April 27 that the National Institutes of Health would be revoking grants given to New York–based nonprofit organization EcoHealth Alliance in 2019 , including funds for 2020 that the nonprofit now has to return .
But in reality , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do with the coronavirus pandemic .
In fact , they were awarded after a different kind of coronavirus — SARS — spread across the world in 2003 .
The NIH also didn ’ t give the funds directly to the Wuhan Institute , instead awarding them to EcoHealth Alliance , which invests in health research globally .
The money helped support research that led to 20 research papers on coronaviruses published over the six years , according to the NIH .
It ’ s not clear whether Fauci was personally involved in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Wuhan Institute , those funds also went to research facilities in Shanghai , Beijing , and Singapore .
The grants were meant to “ support research that aims to understand what factors allow coronaviruses , including close relatives to SARS , to evolve and jump into the human population and cause disease ( called a spillover event ) , ” an NIH spokesperson told BuzzFeed News .
“ Most emerging human viruses come from wildlife , and these represent a significant threat to public health and biosecurity in the US and globally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2002–03 , and the current COVID-19 pandemic , ” the spokesperson said .
“ The project includes studying viral diversity in animal ( bats ) reservoirs , surveying people that live in high-risk communities for evidence of bat-coronavirus infection , and conducting laboratory experiments to analyze and predict which newly discovered viruses pose the greatest threat to human health.
” The grant also wasn ’ t the first awarded to EcoHealth Alliance .
The NIH has been funding infectious disease research projects through the nonprofit since 2005 .
But the Daily Mail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did the Newsmax reporter , who on April 17 asked Trump : `` There was also another report [ saying ] that the NIH under the Obama administration in 2015 gave that lab $ 3.7 million in a grant .
Why would the US give a grant like that to China ?
” Newsmax reporter Emerald Robinson did not return a request for comment .
For Joan Donovan , the director of the Technology and Social Change Project at Harvard 's Shorenstein Center , the attacks and conspiracies are part of a larger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ If you don ’ t trust the scientist , you don ’ t trust the science , ” Donovan said .
And the right-wing media and conspiratorial YouTube channels have used the grants to stoke that distrust .
On April 26 , Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani called for an investigation of the grant on a New York morning radio show .
Falsely and without evidence , the former mayor of New York implied the virus was created as a biological weapon , blaming Fauci and the administration of President Barack Obama .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 12 years has been carrying on these experiments , including in this Wuhan laboratory , with animals , and actually making this virus more dangerous , ” Giuliani said on the show .
“ You could say that ’ s for scientific purposes , or you could say that ’ s for the purpose of weaponizing them.
” “ 'Paid for the Damn Virus That ’ s Killing Us ' : Giuliani Rips Fauci Over Grants to Wuhan Laboratory , ” said a Washington Examiner headline on April 26 , gathering over 150,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Anthony Fauci Should Explain ' $ 3.7 Million to the Wuhan Laboratory ' ” read a headline in the Washington Times on April 27 , which received over 165,000 Facebook likes , shares , and comments .
Rep. Matt Gaetz and Newsweek may have also perpetuated the falsely shaded narrative , but the most popular piece of content about the grants came from the Next News Network , a YouTube channel known for circulating baseless claims , including a fabricated story about President Bill Clinton sexually assaulting a teenager .
Hosted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the channel has over a million subscribers and surpassed a billion views in December , according to Forbes .
On April 19 , the Next News Network posted a video about the grants , which has received over 2.3 million views .
In it , osteopath Rashid Buttar drew a direct line between the grant , Fauci , and the pandemic .
According to YouTube , the video did not violate the social media company 's policies .
“ Is Fauci directly responsible for this pandemic ?
” Franchi asked Buttar in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to say this : I ’ ve seen some petitions going around . ''
Buttar responded .
“ I think he ’ s a criminal .
He ’ s going against the law .
He ’ s going against the government.
” Franchi told BuzzFeed News he was asking Buttar `` to clarify his belief that Dr. Fauci ’ s work with coronaviruses has led to the pandemic.
” He added : “ The video as a whole revolves around President Trump responding to a reporter that he is investigating the widely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wuhan Lab in 2015 by the NIH to continue coronavirus research after a moratorium was placed on such research in the United States and Dr. Fauci ’ s involvement with the funding of that research.
” In addition to spreading conspiracy theories about the pandemic , Buttar has a history of action taken against him by medical authorities .
In 2010 , the North Carolina medical board reprimanded him for , among other complaints , three cancer patients who sought treatment from him and paid for treatment that had “ no known value @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Buttar has spent years selling skin drops at $ 150 a bottle as a treatment for diseases ranging from autism to cancer , ” WCNC reported at the time .
In 2013 , the FDA sent Buttar a warning letter for promoting and distributing unapproved medical products on his websites and YouTube videos .
Buttar did not respond to a request for comment on his statements about Dr. Fauci .
`` The medical board and FDA have a responsibility to make sure doctors do n't push too close to the edge , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BuzzFeed News .
`` The regulatory bodies serve an important function and are needed to safeguard the public . ''

Right-wing media and conspiracy theorists have seized on a series of grants awarded over the course of six years to study coronaviruses to undermine Dr. Anthony Fauci, the immunologist who’s been at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. The narrative moved to the spotlight at the White House when, during a press conference on April 17, a reporter with Newsmax asked President Donald Trump about the grants, totaling $3.7 million since 2014.
The Daily Mail, a British tabloid known for publishing unreliable stories, first reported the $3.7 million figure on April 11. The paper wrote a story on the funding, parts of which went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Although the article stated that there’s no evidence the novel coronavirus leaked from the lab, it implied a correlation between the grants and the pandemic: "The revelation that the Wuhan Institute was experimenting on bats from the area already known to be the source of COVID-19 — and doing so with American money — has sparked further fears that the lab, and not the market, is the original outbreak source."
Those questions have had real effects. Politico reported on April 27 that the National Institutes of Health would be revoking grants given to New York–based nonprofit organization EcoHealth Alliance in 2019, including funds for 2020 that the nonprofit now has to return.
But in reality, the grants appear to have nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, they were awarded after a different kind of coronavirus — SARS — spread across the world in 2003. The NIH also didn’t give the funds directly to the Wuhan Institute, instead awarding them to EcoHealth Alliance, which invests in health research globally. The money helped support research that led to 20 research papers on coronaviruses published over the six years, according to the NIH. It’s not clear whether Fauci was personally involved in the grants in any way.
Aside from the Wuhan Institute, those funds also went to research facilities in Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore. The grants were meant to “support research that aims to understand what factors allow coronaviruses, including close relatives to SARS, to evolve and jump into the human population and cause disease (called a spillover event),” an NIH spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
“Most emerging human viruses come from wildlife, and these represent a significant threat to public health and biosecurity in the US and globally, as demonstrated by the SARS epidemic of 2002–03, and the current COVID-19 pandemic,” the spokesperson said. “The project includes studying viral diversity in animal (bats) reservoirs, surveying people that live in high-risk communities for evidence of bat-coronavirus infection, and conducting laboratory experiments to analyze and predict which newly discovered viruses pose the greatest threat to human health.”
The grant also wasn’t the first awarded to EcoHealth Alliance. The NIH has been funding infectious disease research projects through the nonprofit since 2005.
But the Daily Mail failed to note that context, as did the Newsmax reporter, who on April 17 asked Trump: "There was also another report [saying] that the NIH under the Obama administration in 2015 gave that lab $3.7 million in a grant. Why would the US give a grant like that to China?”
Newsmax reporter Emerald Robinson did not return a request for comment.
For Joan Donovan, the director of the Technology and Social Change Project at Harvard's Shorenstein Center, the attacks and conspiracies are part of a larger narrative undermining Fauci and his work. “If you don’t trust the scientist, you don’t trust the science,” Donovan said.
And the right-wing media and conspiratorial YouTube channels have used the grants to stoke that distrust.
On April 26, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani called for an investigation of the grant on a New York morning radio show. Falsely and without evidence, the former mayor of New York implied the virus was created as a biological weapon, blaming Fauci and the administration of President Barack Obama.
“China for the last 10 to 12 years has been carrying on these experiments, including in this Wuhan laboratory, with animals, and actually making this virus more dangerous,” Giuliani said on the show. “You could say that’s for scientific purposes, or you could say that’s for the purpose of weaponizing them.”
“'Paid for the Damn Virus That’s Killing Us': Giuliani Rips Fauci Over Grants to Wuhan Laboratory,” said a Washington Examiner headline on April 26, gathering over 150,000 Facebook likes, shares, and comments.
“Anthony Fauci Should Explain '$3.7 Million to the Wuhan Laboratory'” read a headline in the Washington Times on April 27, which received over 165,000 Facebook likes, shares, and comments.
Rep. Matt Gaetz and Newsweek may have also perpetuated the falsely shaded narrative, but the most popular piece of content about the grants came from the Next News Network, a YouTube channel known for circulating baseless claims, including a fabricated story about President Bill Clinton sexually assaulting a teenager. Hosted by commentator and conspiracy theorist Gary Franchi, the channel has over a million subscribers and surpassed a billion views in December, according to Forbes.
On April 19, the Next News Network posted a video about the grants, which has received over 2.3 million views. In it, osteopath Rashid Buttar drew a direct line between the grant, Fauci, and the pandemic. According to YouTube, the video did not violate the social media company's policies.
“Is Fauci directly responsible for this pandemic?” Franchi asked Buttar in the clip.
“I’m going to say this: I’ve seen some petitions going around." Buttar responded. “I think he’s a criminal. He’s going against the law. He’s going against the government.”
Franchi told BuzzFeed News he was asking Buttar "to clarify his belief that Dr. Fauci’s work with coronaviruses has led to the pandemic.”
He added: “The video as a whole revolves around President Trump responding to a reporter that he is investigating the widely reported 3.7 million dollars sent to the Wuhan Lab in 2015 by the NIH to continue coronavirus research after a moratorium was placed on such research in the United States and Dr. Fauci’s involvement with the funding of that research.”
In addition to spreading conspiracy theories about the pandemic, Buttar has a history of action taken against him by medical authorities. In 2010, the North Carolina medical board reprimanded him for, among other complaints, three cancer patients who sought treatment from him and paid for treatment that had “no known value for the treatment of cancer.”
“Buttar has spent years selling skin drops at $150 a bottle as a treatment for diseases ranging from autism to cancer,” WCNC reported at the time.
In 2013, the FDA sent Buttar a warning letter for promoting and distributing unapproved medical products on his websites and YouTube videos.
Buttar did not respond to a request for comment on his statements about Dr. Fauci.
"The medical board and FDA have a responsibility to make sure doctors don't push too close to the edge," he said in an emailed statement to BuzzFeed News. "The regulatory bodies serve an important function and are needed to safeguard the public."


buzzfeed--2020-04-29--Bill De Blasio Is Not Anti-Semitic. But His Dumb Tweet Feeds A Dangerous Idea.

The tweet has spiraled out Wednesday , with some in and out of the city accusing de Blasio of anti-Semitism in specifically calling out the city ’ s Jews and blaming a community of over 1 million for the dangerous actions of some 2,000 .
The Republican Jewish Coalition said the mayor ’ s tweet “ encourages and foments anti-Semitism.
” Wednesday morning brought an increasingly familiar online horror : the trending Twitter trifecta .
“ My message to the Jewish community , and all communities , is this simple : the time for warnings has passed , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up a public funeral of an Orthodox rabbi in Brooklyn that had broken social distancing rules .
( In case you have doubts on this point , it has never in recorded history been good news for Jews when “ Jews ” is trending . )
It ’ s easy to see why people are concerned by de Blasio ’ s tweet .
New York City ’ s Hasidic community has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus , with some 700 people in the community dead in the New York area .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the disease , thousands of Orthodox Jews have volunteered to donate the antibodies in their blood plasma .
The suggestion of specific blame for the virus ’ s spread comes as there have been early reports of increased anti-Semitism in the US and around the world during the pandemic .
But the broad attacks on the mayor merit a correction .
Bill de Blasio , regardless of what the president ’ s eldest son and others who enjoy punching down at the oft-punched mayor suggest , is not anti-Semitic .
He ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-intentioned but dangerous thinking about Jews that has become increasingly popular in American politics .
De Blasio has kept a tight relationship with New York City ’ s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community , which is a powerful voting bloc in the city .
That community , some of which he represented as a member of the City Council , has had an outsized role in his political career , helping him win his first mayoral election in 2013 .
When he ran for president last year ( I swear he really did that ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ultra-Orthodox community for donations to try and keep him in the primary debates .
That closeness has resulted in a series of controversies since de Blasio ’ s been mayor .
One sect of the ultra-Orthodox Satmars in Williamsburg , Brooklyn , endorsed de Blasio ’ s mayoral bid under the belief that he would roll back a city health regulation limiting a religious circumcision practice .
Since he ’ s been mayor , the back-and-forth over those regulations has been at times dramatic , as infants ’ health has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report found last year that de Blasio had used “ political horse-trading ” to hold off on an investigation into the quality of Orthodox yeshiva schools , schools he has helped get city-funded security .
The NYPD acknowledged Wednesday that they had talked with leaders of Rabbi Chaim Mertz ’ s synagogue soon after his death , before the community prepared funeral plans that they believed would be in line with city guidelines .
De Blasio , if anything , has given elements of the city ’ s ultra-Orthodox community unparalleled freedom , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last six years .
You could forgive the thousands who came out to mourn a rabbi in Williamsburg on Tuesday night for thinking they ’ d be able to honor his life without city interruption based on that precedent .

(In case you have doubts on this point, it has never in recorded history been good news for Jews when “Jews” is trending.)
It’s easy to see why people are concerned by de Blasio’s tweet. New York City’s Hasidic community has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus, with some 700 people in the community dead in the New York area. And rather than being broadly oblivious to the disease, thousands of Orthodox Jews have volunteered to donate the antibodies in their blood plasma. The suggestion of specific blame for the virus’s spread comes as there have been early reports of increased anti-Semitism in the US and around the world during the pandemic.
But the broad attacks on the mayor merit a correction. Bill de Blasio, regardless of what the president’s eldest son and others who enjoy punching down at the oft-punched mayor suggest, is not anti-Semitic. He’s clumsy, and reflective of the frequently well-intentioned but dangerous thinking about Jews that has become increasingly popular in American politics.
De Blasio has kept a tight relationship with New York City’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which is a powerful voting bloc in the city. That community, some of which he represented as a member of the City Council, has had an outsized role in his political career, helping him win his first mayoral election in 2013. When he ran for president last year (I swear he really did that), de Blasio leaned on the city’s ultra-Orthodox community for donations to try and keep him in the primary debates.
That closeness has resulted in a series of controversies since de Blasio’s been mayor. One sect of the ultra-Orthodox Satmars in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, endorsed de Blasio’s mayoral bid under the belief that he would roll back a city health regulation limiting a religious circumcision practice. Since he’s been mayor, the back-and-forth over those regulations has been at times dramatic, as infants’ health has been put at risk. A city investigation report found last year that de Blasio had used “political horse-trading” to hold off on an investigation into the quality of Orthodox yeshiva schools, schools he has helped get city-funded security.
The NYPD acknowledged Wednesday that they had talked with leaders of Rabbi Chaim Mertz’s synagogue soon after his death, before the community prepared funeral plans that they believed would be in line with city guidelines. De Blasio, if anything, has given elements of the city’s ultra-Orthodox community unparalleled freedom, sway, and access to power over the last six years. You could forgive the thousands who came out to mourn a rabbi in Williamsburg on Tuesday night for thinking they’d be able to honor his life without city interruption based on that precedent.


buzzfeed--2020-04-29--To Survive The Coronavirus's Second Wave, We Will Have To Agree On What Happened During The First

BuzzFeed News has reporters across five continents bringing you trustworthy stories about the impact of the coronavirus .
To help keep this news free , become a member and sign up for our newsletter , Outbreak Today .
CDC Director Robert Redfield dropped a bombshell in an interview last week with the Washington Post : The second wave of COVID-19 , the disease caused by the novel coronavirus , could be worse than the current one ravaging the country .
“ There ’ s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just went through , ” he said , because it would coincide with the annual flu epidemic , which killed 24,000 to 62,000 people last year and caused 18–26 million hospital visits .
A day later , President Donald Trump tweeted an attack on a CNN report about the Redfield interview .
“ CDC Director was totally misquoted by Fake News CNN on Covid 19 .
He will be putting out a statement , ” the president wrote .
Several hours later , during Trump 's daily coronavirus press briefing , Redfield was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I didn ’ t say that this was going to be worse .
I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially more complicated because we would have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time , ” Redfield said .
“ It does n't mean it 's impossible , it does n't mean it 's going to be worse.
” But , as Axios pointed out , if Redfield had any objections to how the Post portrayed him , he didn ’ t mention them when he shared the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As the back-and-forth showed , there are at least two coronavirus narratives , and to be clear , they are not equal : One is backed by science , data , and objective reality , created by medical workers and the scientists , and another is distrustful of institutions , reliant on pseudoscience , and the product of the paranoid and the president .
As of Monday , 54,877 Americans had died from the coronavirus — more than the 47,434 Americans killed in combat during the Vietnam War .
This week , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exceeded 1 million .
The first four months of this crisis will assuredly mean that when we emerge , we ’ ll be different people in a very different world .
But we aren ’ t even halfway .
We will never agree , in part because the science is genuinely unsettled , and in part because it 's to Republicans ' advantage to make it seem like those zones of uncertainty are much larger than they actually are .
One of the best examples of our already warped understanding is the persistent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology .
The narrative is difficult to shake , especially since it marries legitimate scientific caution and doubt with the president 's need to find a scapegoat .
“ These conspiracy theories about the virus 's origin are harming our ability to work together as a global community , ” Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen told BuzzFeed News .
“ It 's a pandemic , it 's not China 's virus .
It 's definitely [ the world ’ s ] virus at this point.
” In contrast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in tech and finance who push uninformed information via sprawling Twitter threads and Medium pieces — Rasmussen has become one of the leading sources on Twitter of reliable information about COVID-19 .
While scientists have not yet ruled it out , Rasmussen said there ’ s also no evidence she ’ s seen that points to the lab in Wuhan .
She also dismissed a related theory that the coronavirus had been created for warfare .
“ It would be a terrible biological weapon , ” she said .
The lab origin theory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ widening informational divide between Republicans and the scientists .
According to Rasmussen , people who only listen to Trump ’ s nightly press briefings would be unprepared for another lockdown , if that 's what 's needed .
“ I think that there is certainly the possibility that we could be back to square one , ” she said .
“ We 're going to be stuck with this for a long time , ” she said .
“ There could be over a million deaths [ worldwide ] by this fall , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to say right now.
” Rasmussen said that there ’ s a disconnect between how the scientific community conducts itself and how laypeople consume information .
She ’ s found Twitter useful for sending facts out to her followers , but for every person reading her tweets who wants to actually learn , there are swarms of harassers , angry because scientific research doesn ’ t line up with their conspiracy theories .
Recently , one Twitter user showed up in her mentions , demanding she prove that demonic possession wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and COVID-19 .
“ It 's important for people to have a basic good understanding of what we do and what we do n't know , ” she said .
“ [ But ] I do n't want to waste my time with people who wo n't be convinced that this is n't a dastardly plot to vaccinate everyone.
” We will never agree , because trolls and kooks are pushing nonsense faster than anyone can clean it up .
If it feels like there ’ s a new conspiracy theory on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because there is .
Before the coronavirus , an online fringe narrative would take 6 to 8 months to bubble into the mainstream , according to data from AI software company Yonder .
During the outbreak , it has taken 3 to 14 days .
The QAnon movement and the anti-vax community have moved , if not quite into the center of the national conversation , next door .
Take the toilet paper shortage , for example .
In late February , toilet paper started flying off the shelves at supermarkets around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bracing for then-imminent statewide lockdowns .
“ The way we track a narrative as it moves from one group online to another is using linguistic idiosyncrasies : Small snippets of text or phrases that are used in an idiosyncratic way , ” Yonder CEO Jonathon Morgan told BuzzFeed News .
“ The one that caught our attention is the early signals from 4chan that there was panic buying at grocery stores at a time when panic buying was n't happening.
” According to Morgan , those panic buying posts predated mainstream media coverage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of February , influencers with larger followings picked up the 4chan posts and spread the toilet paper panic onto larger mainstream social networks like Twitter , which in part caused larger , legitimate news outlets to report on the story .
Not only did trolls spread a narrative about panic buying from the fever swamps to the pages of the mainstream press , but even now , 10 weeks after the first posts , it ’ s not clear what the intention was .
The early signals on 4chan may have come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but it could also have been an intentional effort to cause the headlines to spread .
Here , there are at least two layers of confusion .
Morgan is watching other false narratives ooze to the surface , including that vitamin C could cure the coronavirus or foreign-born delivery drivers had spread the disease .
He sees this problem worsening as anger and despair escalate — and trust in institutions declines .
“ Instead of taking information from [ institutions ] , ” Morgan said , “ we 're taking advice from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the least-informed , but most passionate , fringe groups.
” The institutions of the 21st century , the major social media platforms , have been waging well-publicized battles against COVID-19 misinformation .
Facebook now alerts users who like , react to , or comment on debunked content with a message directing them to the World Health Organization 's Myth busters page .
Under its coronavirus policy , Twitter has deleted posts and suspended accounts .
YouTube has outfitted search results and videos with coronavirus-related information featuring WHO data and links to official pages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world .
Aviv Ovadya , founder of the Thoughtful Technology Project , told BuzzFeed News that anti-institutionalism is one of the main drivers of the narrative breakdown .
“ [ People ] are not sure what to trust , and the authorities [ and ] the ways that experts are communicating with them , the media is communicating with them , are not helpful , ” he said .
Ovadya said he thinks trolls spreading explicitly harmful disinformation are only a small part of the problem .
Most of the rumors and hoaxes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to do what ’ s best for themselves or their families .
“ There really is this sort of sense that the government is randomly doing things all over the world that do n't make any sense at all , ” he said .
“ I still do n't feel like I have any sense of here 's a set of milestones we need to hit , very concrete , here 's a date where we intend to hit those.
” But if the problem is anti-institutionalism , then having the institution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to a functioning national government — tell you you 're wrong is no better than having a scientist do it .
American chiropractors have used Facebook to promote fake cures and therapies for the coronavirus — with one video viewed over 20 million times .
The celebrities John Cusack and Woody Harrelson have spread the hoax that 5G cellular technology caused the pandemic .
A QAnon YouTuber told his followers to drink chlorine dioxide — the oxidizing agent used in bleach .
A YouTube video accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci , the director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Infectious Diseases and top-ranking member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force , of being part of the “ deep state ” has been viewed over 7 million times .
In part , we will never agree because some of us simply do n't want to .
The internet is awash in hoaxes , misinformation , conspiracy theories about deep state plots and bioweapons , and state propaganda — and it ’ s getting worse .
Of all of the internet groups that have thrived during the pandemic , the QAnon movement may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that President Trump is waging a secret war against the deep state and a global cabal of pedophiles .
In the last four months , pieces of that narrative have popped up on more mainstream platforms .
Last month , Instagram influencers shared a hoax that the pandemic lockdown was a government cover-up distracting the world from a covert operation to break up a global child trafficking operation .
“ It 's a mess , ” network analysis company Graphika ’ s cyber intelligence analyst , Melanie Smith , told BuzzFeed News .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in volume in certain issues that were pretty fringe.
” Smith said Q followers are responsible for conspiracy theories like the hoax that Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates created the coronavirus as a bioweapon and the idea that bleach could be a cure , and have promoted the unfounded claim that 5G caused COVID-19 .
According to Smith , these groups are filling a vacuum left by health professionals unused to combating misinformation in public .
Graphika published a report titled “ The COVID-19 ‘ Infodemic ’ ” last week , analyzing social media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many countries , these internet-fueled fringe narratives are receding and better information taking their place — except for the US .
Another reason we will never agree : Social media platforms have built spaces in which those of us with the least amount of real information can marinate in falsehoods .
The anti-lockdown protests across the country were the culmination of months of paranoid rhetoric spreading across Facebook Groups .
As thousands of demonstrators swarmed state capitols to protest stay-at-home orders , dozens of Facebook Groups appeared with names like `` Indiana Citizens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gridlock Tennessee '' to organize them .
After one of those protests , Audrey Whitlock , a leader of the ReOpen NC Facebook Group , announced in a Facebook post that she had tested positive for COVID-19 .
But contracting the disease hasn ’ t deterred her from demanding an end to social distancing .
“ A typical public health quarantine would occur in a medical facility .
I have been told not to participate in public or private accommodations as requested by the government , and therefore denied my First Amendment right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote .
If you disagree with what the mainstream is thinking , saying , and doing about the pandemic , there ’ s safe harbor for you on Facebook Groups .
Some of those groups are the work of conservative activists .
A network of pro-gun groups run by four brothers — Chris , Ben , Aaron , and Matthew Dorr — were behind five of the largest Facebook groups dedicated to to the protests , according to NBC News .
Another one of the protests in Michigan was organized by a group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the Tech Transparency Project , a research initiative of Campaign for Accountability , a nonpartisan , nonprofit watchdog organization , published a report outlining how extremists were using private Facebook Groups to ramp up support for a violent anti-government uprising .
The Tech Transparency Project ’ s executive director , Daniel Stevens , told BuzzFeed News that the report looked at 125 private groups — some of which were created in the last couple of months .
“ A lot of this stuff is really violent and really extreme , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they 've been trying to use the outbreak to recruit people to their cause.
” The Tech Transparency Report found protest announcements promoted in private Facebook groups associated with the far-right “ boogaloo ” movement .
“ Boogaloo '' comes from the 1984 movie Breakin ’ 2 : Electric Boogaloo , and is short for “ Civil War 2 : Electric Boogaloo.
” One Facebook event spotted by the Tech Transparency Report encouraged people to attend a Wisconsin protest slated for April 24 , even though the state is under a stay-at-home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ page listed more than 3,200 people as attending and another 12,000 as interested .
These Groups share information psychological warfare and celebrate when President Trump tweets about “ liberating '' states from social distancing , in addition to circulating specific information about how to carry out a violent uprising .
“ In these boogaloo groups , they upload all these files , ” Stevens said .
“ Here 's how to wage the war , here 's how to attack supply lines.
” “ A perfect driver for them to recruit people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the civil unrest is starting.
” But it ’ s not just far-right extremists that have their own warped view of the crisis .
The fracture is global .
Another reason we 'll never agree : China 's leaders are making it harder for us to do it .
“ This is the first time we 've seen really aggressive disinformation attempts by China that look a lot like Russia 's , ” said Matthew Schrader , China analyst for the Alliance for Securing Democracy , a bipartisan national security advocacy group formed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undermine democracy in the United States and Europe .
He told BuzzFeed News that for years China ’ s international propaganda efforts had been focused on influencing from the top down — as in Australia , where the largest donors to both of the country 's political parties were proxies of the CCP .
Now , China is using information warfare similar to the Kremlin ’ s Internet Research Agency — engaging with users on platforms like Facebook and Twitter to shape public opinion through trolling and astroturfing .
Schrader released a report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political interference during the pandemic .
Up until 2020 , there was a shared conversation between the US and China that was mutually beneficial .
“ China 's leaders thought cooperation was a pretty useful means to the end of shared party power , ” he said .
“ The breakdown we 've seen is that shared narrative does n't work anymore.
” Schrader said it ’ s incredibly hard for Americans to identify whether they ’ re looking at Chinese propaganda online .
There is also an increasingly vocal contingent of Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points in English on Twitter , whether to troll or from sincere belief .
Rui Zhong , program associate for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center , told BuzzFeed News that English-language Chinese propaganda spreading on American social media platforms is deliberate .
“ Within China , we 're seeing more and more rewards and incentives given to people who are more overtly hawkish towards America , ” Zhong said .
According to Zhong , China has the first mover advantage when it comes to international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were hit first , they had more time to develop a propaganda strategy .
The country ’ s government has also co-opted hate crimes against the Chinese diaspora in countries like the US .
“ It ’ s definitely trying to paint China as a responsible actor given the circumstances of the virus and using opportunities where other states might not look as responsible like the UK and US , ” she said .
Both Schrader and Zhong agreed that the overall impact of Chinese information warfare is probably small , even though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
But some of these efforts have caught on , like a story about a US Army reservist from Virginia falsely accused of being patient zero for COVID-19 .
Chinese internet users on platforms like Weibo and WeChat shared that hoax widely .
But for rival governments , acknowledging that China has stepped up its information offensive carries political risks , and so many have shied away from direct criticism .
The New York Times obtained a revised European Union report last week that revealed officials had softened their criticism of China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chief reason we will never agree is n't the commander in chief , the social media platforms , the infowarriors , or the Chinese propagandists .
It 's us .
A day after Redfield walked back his predictions of an impending deadly second wave , President Trump took the podium during his daily COVID-19 briefing and suggested that injecting light or disinfectants into human bodies might kill the virus .
`` I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute , one minute , '' he said .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something like that , by injection inside or almost a cleaning ?
Because you see it gets in the lungs , and it does a tremendous number on the lungs , so it ’ d be interesting to check that . ''
On Facebook , conspiracy theory and pseudoscientific Groups promoted his remarks , according to NBC News .
The president ’ s remarks about the power of light to kill the virus also fell in line with a popular pseudoscientific article on Medium , “ Coronavirus and the Sun : A Lesson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by British author Richard Hobday , whose books claim sunlight can help prevent and heal many common and often fatal diseases like breast cancer , heart disease , multiple sclerosis , and osteoporosis , it claims `` sunlight is germicidal and there is now evidence it can kill the flu virus . ''
Ravina Kullar , an infectious diseases researcher , told BuzzFeed News that you would literally need to fry yourself with UV light to rid your body of COVID-19 .
In discussing “ a lesson from the 1918 influencer pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a popular hoax from that era : sunshine therapy , or the idea that sunlight could cure the flu .
“ There were rampant false cures and treatments peddled by large firms as well as those who could best be understood as charlatans , ” Christopher McKnight Nichols , history professor and director of the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University , told BuzzFeed News .
Nichols said that in 1918 , hospital wards often believed patients were responding well to sunshine therapy when , in actuality , they were probably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go outside .
“ There were and are a lot of conflated factors there about this actual treatment as opposed to , for example , being a sign of a patient on the mend or with a more mild case of influenza , ” he said .
In other words , more than 100 years after the influenza pandemic , we still ca n't agree on what happened .
Little wonder , then , that we 're so far away from understanding each other about the coronavirus .
●

.CDC Director Robert Redfield dropped a bombshell in an interview last week with the Washington Post: The second wave of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, could be worse than the current one ravaging the country.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” he said, because it would coincide with the annual flu epidemic, which killed 24,000 to 62,000 people last year and caused 18–26 million hospital visits.
A day later, President Donald Trump tweeted an attack on a CNN report about the Redfield interview. “CDC Director was totally misquoted by Fake News CNN on Covid 19. He will be putting out a statement,” the president wrote.
Several hours later, during Trump's daily coronavirus press briefing, Redfield was forced to walk back his statement.
“I didn’t say that this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially more complicated because we would have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time,” Redfield said. “It doesn't mean it's impossible, it doesn't mean it's going to be worse.”
But, as Axios pointed out, if Redfield had any objections to how the Post portrayed him, he didn’t mention them when he shared the story on Twitter before the briefing.
As the back-and-forth showed, there are at least two coronavirus narratives, and to be clear, they are not equal: One is backed by science, data, and objective reality, created by medical workers and the scientists, and another is distrustful of institutions, reliant on pseudoscience, and the product of the paranoid and the president.
As of Monday, 54,877 Americans had died from the coronavirus — more than the 47,434 Americans killed in combat during the Vietnam War. This week, the number of cases in the United States exceeded 1 million. The first four months of this crisis will assuredly mean that when we emerge, we’ll be different people in a very different world. But we aren’t even halfway.


buzzfeed--2020-04-30--Democrats Will Have To Answer Questions About Tara Reade. The Biden Campaign Is Advising Them To Say

While Joe Biden has remained publicly silent about a sexual assault allegation made against him , his presidential campaign has sought to coordinate and unify Democratic messaging on the matter , advising surrogates earlier this month to say that the allegation “ did not happen.
” The Biden campaign circulated talking points among top Democratic supporters shortly after the New York Times published a story earlier this month about the allegation by Tara Reade , a former staff assistant in Biden ’ s Senate office who says he assaulted her in 1993 .
With good news and bad , talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In substance , the private guidance largely hews to the sole public statement on the matter from Biden ’ s deputy campaign manager , Kate Bedingfield .
But the messaging shows that while Biden has stayed quiet on the allegations on the eve of his nomination , aides were taking the claims seriously enough behind the scenes to coordinate messaging among other Democrats to try to cast the matter as one that ’ s been thoroughly vetted and determined to be unfounded .
“ Biden believes that all women have the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims thoroughly reviewed , ” the talking points read , according to a copy sent to two Democratic operatives .
“ In this case , a thorough review by the New York Times has led to the truth : this incident did not happen.
” “ Here ’ s the bottom line , ” they read .
“ Vice President Joe Biden has spent over 40 years in public life : 36 years in the Senate ; 7 Senate campaigns , 2 previous presidential runs , two vice presidential campaigns , and 8 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has never been a complaint , allegation , hint or rumor of any impropriety or inappropriate conduct like this regarding him — ever.
” Democrats are in an increasingly precarious position as reporters assess Reade ’ s allegation .
By any measure of the # MeToo movement that has seen the Democratic Party embrace “ believe women ” as a mantra , Reade , 56 , has provided a serious account , disputed by Biden ’ s campaign and former senior staffers who worked in his office in 1993 but corroborated in part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the 1990s .
This week , after Reade said her late mother had called Larry King Live about the incident , the Intercept published a transcript showing she called in to ask for advice about her daughter ’ s negative experience with a “ prominent senator.
” Since news outlets began to investigate her claims , Biden has participated in more than a dozen television interviews and virtual fundraisers but has not addressed Reade ’ s allegation himself .
The guidance to top Democrats cast Biden as a lifelong “ fierce advocate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unequivocally untrue , leaning heavily on the April 12 report by the New York Times outlining the allegations by Reade .
Biden ’ s campaign ’ s talking points say the Times story served as proof that Reade ’ s allegation “ did not happen ” — but the story did not conclude this , nor did it conclude that an assault definitively did happen .
The Times reported that three former Senate aides , all of whom Reade said she complained to at the time , either did not remember the incident @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Times also spoke to former interns who said they did remember Reade suddenly ceasing to oversee them , aligning with Reade ’ s claim that she was pulled from that duty .
Reade has said that Biden digitally penetrated her in a Senate hallway and told her , “ You ’ re nothing to me.
” In multiple interviews with several outlets , Reade has said she complained to others in Biden ’ s office , filed a report at the time to a Senate personnel office , and said she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stood by her recollections in interviews with BuzzFeed News this month .
“ All four of the people Mrs. Reade says were notified of an official complaint told the New York Times on the record that they have absolutely no recollection of any such conversation , ” the Biden campaign told Democrats , echoing testimonials from former staffers who have painted the claims as “ so wildly out of character for Joe Biden.
” The Biden campaign also pointed to the former vice president ’ s lead role in crafting the Violence Against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that significantly increased funding for the prosecution of violent crimes against women .
In a livestreamed event with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday , billed as a “ Women ’ s Town Hall , ” the Biden campaign began a Q & A session with a question from a voter about women stuck in abusive relationships , now stuck at home in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ Violence against women is a huge problem , and especially right now , ” Biden said , calling domestic violence prevention “ one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Last year , when other women came forward to say Biden touched them in a way that was uncomfortable , Reade told the Union , a California newspaper , that while she worked for Biden , the then-senator touched her neck and shoulders .
She also told the paper that Biden wanted her to serve drinks at one of his events because he liked her legs .
When she refused , she said , her responsibilities were reduced .
Reade first publicly described her recollection of the 1993 assault earlier this year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mainstream media when Reade went on the podcast of Katie Halper , a left-wing commentator , in late March , and described the more serious allegation of sexual assault .
The Intercept reported in March that the Time 's Up initiative declined to fund her allegation when she approached the group earlier this year ; the Intercept also recently reported that Reade ’ s mother made the call to Larry King Live in 1993 .
The fact that Reade ’ s story first gained traction in the left-wing independent media led some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plot by disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters to hurt Biden .
But the story has gone mainstream , being covered in outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post , both of which gave a serious assessment of Reade ’ s claim .
Business Insider reporter Rich McHugh , an investigative journalist who served as a producer on Ronan Farrow ’ s Harvey Weinstein reporting at NBC News , has identified more people who have corroborated elements of Reade ’ s claim .
Those people include a former neighbor of Reade ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegation at the time and a former colleague who said Reade had told her about more general harassment .
In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Tuesday , Reade said she “ would like to know what [ Biden and his campaign ] think about the reporting of Rich McHugh , who was formerly reporting on the Weinstein case and is a well-renowned investigative reporter .
What is their comment on the Business Insider articles that did a deep dive investigation into what I ’ ve asserted that resulted in multiple corroborations on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sexual harassment and sexual assault by Joe Biden ?
” The two Democratic operatives who received the talking points earlier this month following the publication of the New York Times report said they had yet to receive further guidance from the Biden campaign .
Reached for comment on Tuesday night , the Biden campaign pointed to the statement issued by Bedingfield , the deputy campaign manager , dated April 13 : “ Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act .
He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully .
Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press .
What is clear about this claim : it is untrue .
This absolutely did not happen . ''
In line with the guidance from Biden ’ s campaign , Democrats who have been asked about the story in recent weeks have pointed to the New York Times report and other stories , including in the Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ denials by the three former Senate aides : two top staffers , Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman , as well as Biden ’ s executive assistant from 1982 to 2000 , Marianne Baker .
`` I think this case has been investigated , ” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an MSNBC interview earlier this month , pointing to the New York Times article a few days after its publication .
Klobuchar , a Minnesota Democrat , dropped out of the presidential race to endorse Biden in March .
Before the pandemic shut down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his most active supporters , holding rallies for his campaign as he sought to defeat Sanders in the primary .
“ I know the vice president as a major leader on domestic abuse .
I worked with him on that .
And I think that , again , the viewers should read the article .
It was very thorough.
” Other Democrats have defended Biden as a trusted advocate for women , particularly in a race against President Donald Trump , who has been accused of more than a dozen acts of sexual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris said in a recent podcast interview that Reade “ has a right to tell her story ” and that she could “ only speak to the Joe Biden I know .
He ’ s been a lifelong fighter , in terms of stopping violence against women.
” “ Vice President Biden has a strong record for fighting for women in his life , ” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand , a fierce # MeToo advocate , in a radio interview earlier this month .
“ We are right now at the investigation stage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obtained by BuzzFeed News are printed below :


buzzfeed--2020-04-30--We Will Never Agree On What Happened During The First Wave Of The Pandemic — And That Will Make It H

We Will Never Agree On What Happened During The First Wave Of The Pandemic — And That Will Make It Harder To Survive The Second