Senate office has 'no discretion to disclose' complaint from former Joe Biden aide who accused him of sexual assault

2020 Democratic nominee has requested allegation documents be made public

Senate officials told Joe Biden that they have "no discretion to disclose any such information" following the former vice president's request for documents related to a complaint from a former staffer who has accused him of sexual assault.

The Senate's legal counsel told the Senate secretary that the office has no such authority.

On Friday, the likely nominee for the Democratic presidential nomination personally addressed an allegation against him from Tara Reade, who alleged that Mr Biden sexually assaulted her while he was a senator in the 1990s. He has denied the allegation.

During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, he said that "this, never, ever happened" and called on the National Archives for records of complaints against him.

He said: "It was 27 years ago, this never happened, and when she first made the claim, we made it clear that it never happened, and that's as simple as that."

The National Archives informed his campaign that those records would remain with the Senate.

On Friday, Mr Biden sent a letter requesting the Senate secretary "take or direct whatever steps are necessary to establish the location of the records of this office, and once they have been located, to direct a search for the alleged complaint and to make public the results of this search."

He said: "I would ask that the public release include not only a complaint if one exists, but any and all other documents in the records that relate to the allegation."

But the contents of Ms Reade's complaint against Mr Biden are related to workplace harassment, not the alleged assault, Ms Reade has said. Ms Reade has alleged seperately that Mr Biden had assaulted her in 1993.

She told the Associated Press that she is unsure what precise language she used in her complaint but feared "retaliation" against her.

"I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable," she said. "I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault."

Several people have corroborated Ms Reade's account, and she said she also complained to several colleagues about uncomfortable behaviour from the then-senator from Delaware while she worked there.

The Senate's legal counsel reviewed "the relevant statute governing the records" for the Office of Senate Fair Employment Practices, the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Records related to any alleged violation are held under strict confidentiality requirements, according to the Government Employee Rights Act.

Legal counsel determined that any evidence of a complaint could not be released "based on the law's strict confidentiality requirements ... and the Senate's own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorised if prohibited by law."

Mr Biden's attorney Bob Bauer reportedly asked the secretary whether the existence of those records is under the same confidentiality requirements, and if there exists a person who could lawfully procure those records. He also asked if the Senate could release the procedures for intake and processing those records.