by Mary Margaret Olohan
A California district attorney’s office is investigating whether 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s accuser Tara Reade lied while acting as an expert witness.
Reade testified for a number of years in domestic violence cases as an expert witness for the Monterey County District Attorney’s office, Politico reported. Media coverage of Reade’s academic credentials has thrown her years testifying as an expert under the spotlight, prompting concerns that Reade lied about her credentials in order to qualify as an expert.
“We are investigating whether Ms. McCabe gave false testimony under oath,” Berkley Brannon, the Monterey County chief assistant district attorney, told Politico on Tuesday. Brannon added that their office does not know how many cases Reade acted as a witness in.
“We have no database or search engine to use to determine in how many cases she testified,” Brannon said. “However, that effort is ongoing.”
Reade did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Six cases in which Reade testified are being reviewed by the 6th District Appellate Program, which oversees appellate cases in four California counties, Executive Director Patrick Murray told Politico on Thursday.
“I have at least six cases where she testified and I have lists pending from various attorney groups where she testified as a violence expert. I expect that list will expand significantly,” Murray said. “We’re trying to get the lists together. We’re aware of Ms. Reade, we’re in the mode of trying to review the transcripts to see if she misrepresented herself in court.”
He continued: “Last week, I was informed she testified as an expert. Last week I was also informed she lied about her credentials. I didn’t connect the dots on the significance of those two things until yesterday when I was contacted by an attorney.”
The Biden accuser’s legal representation, Douglas Wigdor of Wigdor LLP, announced Friday that he will no longer be representing Reade’s allegations against Biden, but said in a press release that the firm still strongly believes that Reade has been “subjected to a double standard in terms of the media coverage she has received.”
Reade accused Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, of kissing her, touching her and penetrating her with his fingers without her consent when she worked for him as a Senate staffer in 1993. Biden and his campaign have denied Reade’s allegations repeatedly.
“Much of what has been written about Ms. Reade is not probative of whether then-Senator Biden sexually assaulted her, but rather is intended to victim-shame and attack her credibility on unrelated and irrelevant matters,” the firm said in a statement. “We genuinely wish Ms. Reade well and hope that she, as a survivor, is treated fairly.”
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Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Tara Reade” by Megyn Kelly. Background Photo “Monterey County District Attorney’s Office” by Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
