XPost: alt.politics.elections, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: sac.politics

Democrat "squad" member Ilhan Omar says she believes sexual
assault allegations against Joe Biden but would vote for him
anyway to defeat Donald Trump.

In a Tweet defending her support of accuser Tara Reade, the
Minnesota congresswoman said that "believing survivors is
consistent with my values".

"With that said, in this interview I did on 6 May, we talked
about that and quotes aren't always in context. I will vote for
him and help him defeat Trump," she said.

"This is the most important election cycle of our lifetimes and
we aren't going to have a chance if we don't spend our energy in
mobilising and building enthusiasm against Trump."

Ms Omar was responding to criticisms of her comments in an
interview with The Sunday Times in which she said she believes
Ms Reade, who has filed an official police complaint alleging Mr
Biden put her up against a wall and penetrated her with his
fingers while she was a senate staffer in the early 1990s.

While Ms Omar suggested "quotes aren't always in context", The
Sunday Times Washington bureau chief Josh Glancy told The
Independent there was nothing in her quotes that had been taken
remotely out of context.

"But luckily this was all on the record. Take a look and judge
for yourself," Mr Glancy said.

When asked if she believed Ms Reade, Ms Omar's full response
was: "There's a lot of unsavoury stuff. It is troubling, I do
believe Tara Reade, I believe it's important for us to give
space for women to come forward and share their stories. It
takes years and years for sexual assault survivors to come
forward. Justice can be delayed but it should never be denied."

When asked if that means Mr Biden should not be the candidate:
"If considerations [over the candidate] were something I had
influence over, just candidly here, we'd probably have a
different candidate."

Ms Omar is the latest high-profile supporter of Mr Biden to
receive criticism for saying they would vote for the former vice
president even if they believed allegations to be true or they
thought he was the wrong candidate, with the Nation columnist
Katha Pollitt receiving heavy criticism for saying she would
vote for Mr Biden even if he boiled babies and ate them.

"He wasn't my candidate, but taking back the White House is that
important," Ms Pollitt wrote.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us- election/ilhan-omar-joe-biden-tara-reade-democrat-sexual-assault-
a9532026.html

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)