Author: Haris Alic

During his first presidential run for the 1988 Democrat nomination, Biden, then a United States Senator from Delaware, developed a tendency for embellishing his academic achievements.

“I went to law school on a full academic scholarship, the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship,” Biden told voters in New Hampshire in April 1987 when questioned about his academic record. He proceeded to cite an exhaustive list of his academic accomplishments — including having earned three bachelors degrees and being in the top half of his law school class—before suggesting that he and the man who had broached the initial question “compare” their levels of intelligence.

Those claims, though, quickly jeopardized his budding White House campaign. As the Washington Post reported in September 1987, Biden was not a star student by any means during either his undergraduate or law school years.

Biden’s “undergraduate academic records show that he graduated from [the University of] Delaware 506th in a class of 688 with a ‘C’ average,” the Post noted. Neither did he graduate with three bachelors degrees as claimed but rather a “dual major in history and political science.”

It also emerged that Biden had not only lied about receiving a full ride to law school, but he fell far short of being in the top half of his class — ranking 76 out of 85.

More troubling, though, was that Biden had been caught plagiarizing in law school. For a legal methods course, Biden lifted five pages from a published law review article and submitted them “without quotation or citation” in his own 15-page paper.

Biden said when admitting the plagiaris:

In the marketplace of ideas in the political realm, the notion that for every thought or idea you have to go back and find and attribute to someone is frankly ludicrous. I’ve done some dumb things, and I’ll do some dumb things again.

Despite the mea culpa, Biden’s credibility was too damaged for the electorate in 1988, especially since he had already been accused of plagiarizing the campaign speeches of other politicians and inflating his civil rights activism. Shortly after the Post’s exposé, Biden dropped out of the presidential race.

“I’m angry at myself for having been put in the position — put myself in the position — of having to make this choice,” Biden said when announcing his exit from the 1988 race.

“I said well I’ll come with you, and they said okay, and I walked into their dormitory and was immediately accosted by a cop who arrested me because back in those days men were not allowed in women’s dormitories,” Biden said. “But I promise you I never breached the first floor and it was only a temporary detention.”

“But that’s what I most remember about Athens,” he added. “So folks look, it’s good to be back here.”

The story when it first emerged made headlines not only because Biden had never disclosed a previous arrest, but also because it came at the time the vice presidential nominee was becoming known for his frequent gaffes on the campaign trail.

At one point the gaffes even drew the rage of Biden’s running mate, future President Barack Obama, who rhetorically asked staffers on a conference call just “how many times is Biden gonna say something stupid.” They did not, however, prevent the Democrat ticket from sweeping the electoral college that fall, allowing Biden to work his way into Obama’s good graces by helping shepherd the administration’s stimulus and healthcare initiatives through Congress.

Despite the progress, Biden would continue telling the story about his brush with law enforcement during subsequent trips to Ohio. Most notably, while campaigning for the Democrat ticket in 2012, he once again told voters in Athens about the incident, albeit this time clarifying that he was not arrested, but came close.

The effectiveness of Biden’s nickname for Trump has yet to be seen. It has, however, already elicited a response from the president’s eldest son, who poked fun at the creativity behind its conception on Monday.

‘President Tweety’ is exactly the type of high-quality nickname that you would expect to come from someone who uses the phrase ‘lying dog-faced pony soldier’ like it’s a normal thing to say,” Donald Trump, Jr. wrote shortly after Biden’s AAPI remarks began circulating on social media. “So cringeworthy!”

“President Tweety” is exactly the type of high quality nickname that you would expect to come from someone who uses the phrase “lying dog-faced pony soldier” like it’s a normal thing to say.

So cringeworthy!

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 18, 2020

This is not the first time the former vice president has sought to even the playing field with Trump when it comes to the branding of political opponents.

“There’s so many nicknames I’m inclined to give this guy. “You can just start with clown,” Biden told supporters during a closed-door fundraiser in South Carolina last year. He added that “no-good S.O.B.” might do as well.

Eventually, Biden opted not to use either, telling supporters, “I’m not going to do is get into what he wants me to do. He wants this to be a mud wrestling match.”

Trump, for his part, infamously coined the moniker “Sleepy Joe” for the former vice president early last year. That nickname, supposedly a reference to Biden’s age and frequent gaffes, has become something of a rallying cry for Trump supporters, much as “Crooked Hillary” was used to lambast former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The decision to step down comes one day after Burr was served a warrant at his Washington, DC, residence by federal agents, according to the Los Angeles Times. Law enforcement officials purportedly seized Burr’s cell phone in hopes of establishing a communications timeline between the senator and his stockbroker as they probe into his decision to unload hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock this past February.

Burr, who at the time was receiving nearly daily briefings by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the coronavirus threat, netted between $628,000 and $1.72 million. The senator’s sale, which came less than a week before the stock market tumbled because of the virus, has sparked questions of insider trading, especially as most of the shares he sold were in travel and hospitality companies, such as Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and Hilton, which were hard hit due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

Perhaps more troubling is that Burr’s brother-in-law, a political appointee of President Donald Trump, also dumped upwards of $280,000 in stock on the same day as the senator.

Given the fact pattern, many speculate Burr may have acted on insider information privy only to his committee to protect his and his family’s assets. If true, Burr could be found in violation of the STOCK Act, which prohibits the use of non-public information for lawmakers’ private profit.

Even before Burr opted to step down from his chairmanship, the senator’s political standing had already taken a hit. Not only has he drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle, but recent polling indicates a majority of his North Carolina constituents believe he should resign over the matter. The political pressure culminating was evidenced on Thursday when Burr’s seatmate, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), t0ld a local North Carolina radio station he owed everyone an “explanation” for his conduct.

Herridge’s making public the memo, which includes Biden’s name, drew the ire of Andrew Bates, the former vice president’s rapid response director, on Wednesday. After issuing an official statement on the “unmasking list,” Bates took to social media to personally lambast Herridge, suggesting she was politically compromised as a reporter for once having worked at Fox News.

“Catherine Herridge is a partisan, rightwing hack who is a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comment,” Bates said in a now-deleted tweet responding to Herridge’s announcement of the memo.

Andrew Bates deleted the tweet. pic.twitter.com/zElvDs56em

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 13, 2020

Bates’ comments come only days after the former vice president pledged that in a “Biden White House, there will be no bullying of the media from the press room podium or by tweet.”

“A free press is essential to a free society. Tyrants know this all too well. That is why attacking the press and attempting to intimidate independent media is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook,” Biden said in a statement earlier this month honoring World Press Freedom Day.

Neither CBS News nor the Biden campaign responded to requests for comments on this story before press time.

The seizure is the first significant development since the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced last month they were investigating the Republican lawmaker for possible insider trading.

Burr drew the attention of lawmakers after it was revealed he sold off thousands of dollars worth of stock on February 13—less than a week before the stock market sharply dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the shares were in companies  like Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and Hilton that took an especially hard hit as coronavirus travel restrictions went into place. Burr’s timely decision to sell netted him between $628,000 and $1.72 million.

More troubling is that Burr’s decision to sell came as his committee was receiving daily briefings on the threat posed by the virus. As such, many speculate the senator may have acted on insider information to protect his assets. If true, Burr could be found in violation of the STOCK Act, which prohibits the use of non-public information for private profit by lawmakers.

The FBI’s seizure of Burr’s phone comes only days after it was reported that his brother-in-law, a political appointee of President Donald Trump, dumped upwards of $280,000 in stock on the same day as the senator.

To date, Reade has not been able to obtain a copy of the personnel report. She claims her inability stems from the fact that Biden’s Senate papers were donated to the University of Delaware in 2011.

Neither are the papers likely to become public any time soon. The documents, which fill 1,875 boxes and include 415 gigabytes of electronic records, were to be made public on Dec. 31, 2019, according to an agreement the former vice president entered into with the University of Delaware upon donating his papers.

Those parameters, though, were changed on April 24, 2019—the day before Biden declared his 2020 campaign—when the university announced the trove of documents would now be made public on Dec. 31 or “two years” after the former vice president “retires from public life.” At the time, the university provided no definition for what it considered “public life,” leaving open the final date for release.

Among the documents are “committee reports, drafts of legislation,” and official correspondence. It is uncertain if documents pertaining to personnel issues or employment complaints would be among the papers, but internal correspondence regarding Reade or her allegations by Biden’s Senate staff are likely to be included.

The latter is all the more likely given Reade’s claims of having discussed her accusations with superiors and the hasty nature in which she left her position after the alleged assault took place.

Devos’s new regulations will allow representatives for not only victims but also the accused to call witnesses and challenge evidence. Such hearings, which will be either conducted in-person or virtually, will have to now to rely on a “clear and convincing” standard, rather than just a “preponderance of the evidence.” When investigating complaints, colleges will also have to rely on trained personnel to evaluate evidence and make final decisions.

The former vice president said on Wednesday:

Trump’s Education Department … is trying to shame and silence survivors, and take away parents’ peace of mind… as President, I’ll be … on the side of survivors, who deserve to have their voices heard, their claims taken seriously and investigated, and their rights upheld.

Biden’s attack on DeVos and the Trump administration comes as the former vice president, himself, is under fire and facing accusations of sexual assault.

Late last month, Tara Reade, who came forward in April 2019 to accuse the former vice president of unwanted touching and sexual harassment, revealed there was more to her story. Reade now claims he pushed her up against a wall and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers, while she was briefly employed by his Senate office in the early 1990s.

The accusation has been difficult to corroborate given that nearly 30 years have passed since it supposedly took place. As such, Reade has sought to make public the sexual harassment complaint she allegedly filed in 1993, especially as former Biden staffers claim no such document exists.

Reade, for her part, has contended that not only does the complaint exist, but it is likely within the thousands of Senate documents the former vice president donated to the University of Delaware in 2011.

Reade, who worked for Biden’s congressional office between 1992 and 1993, had initially come forward last April to accuse the former vice president of unwanted touching. At the time, Reade told a local California news outlet that she had filed a complaint noting the misconduct with the Senate’s personnel office when it purportedly occurred. Her story, however, changed in March, with Reade claiming that Biden had pushed her up against a wall, forcibly kissed her, and digitally penetrated her sometime in 1993.

The purported assault, which Reade claims took place either in the U.S. Capitol or the Russell Senate Office Building in 1993, has been vehemently denied by the former vice president. The denial has been echoed by Biden allies, including onetime members of his Senate staff.

Some, like Ted Kaufman, who was Biden’s Senate chief of staff when the incident allegedly took place, denies that Reade ever mentioned sexual harassment.

“She did not come to me,” Kaufman said last month. “I would have remembered her if she had, and I don’t remember her at all.”

Dronen’s declaration, though, suggests otherwise, claiming that Reade told him that she had “struck a deal” with Biden’s then-chief of staff regarding the sexual harassment “problem” and “left her position.”

Although the court documents do not state that Biden committed the harassment in question, nor do they make any mention of the alleged assault, they provide the only written record from the past that substantiates part of Reade’s account.

The new documents emerge as pressure has mounted on the former vice president to release his congressional papers, which Reade contends may shed further light on the allegation.