By all rights, Tara Reade’s claim that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her should have ended once and for all last week. Last Wednesday, it emerged that she almost certainly misrepresented her academic credentials while testifying as an expert witness on domestic violence in Monterey County, California (Salinas, Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea).
Reade claimed to have earned a bachelor’s degree from Antioch University Seattle under a special program that allowed her to protect her identity from her abusive ex-spouse while she was completing her coursework. She claimed to have worked personally with the school’s then-chancellor, Toni Murdoch. However, Antioch Seattle officials stated that Reade attended the school, but never graduated. They also denied that any “protected program” ever existed.
This set off alarm bells with defense attorneys in the Central Coast. After all, it’s very possible that people were wrongfully convicted on the basis of Reade’s testalying. Almost as unnerving is the likelihood that manifestly guilty abusers could go free if Reade’s testimony is ruled perjurous and inadmissible.
Now prosecutors in Monterey County are taking a deep dive into Reade’s past testimony to see if she should be racked up for perjury.
“We are investigating whether Ms. McCabe gave false testimony under oath,” Monterey County Chief Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon told POLITICO on Tuesday.
Brannon said the office does not yet know in how many cases Reade testified as an expert.
“We have no database or search engine to use to determine in how many cases she testified,” Brannon said. “However, that effort is ongoing.”
By an earlier estimate, Reade testified in at least 20 cases in a decade.
Defense attorneys want prosecutors to subpoena Reade’s academic records and look into other aspects of her credentials. However, we may have gotten definitive proof that Reade’s degree is illegitimate late last week. Antioch confirmed that Reade only attended for three quarters in 2000 and 2001, and never graduated.
To those who are still defending Reade—this is who you’re defending. You say you want to keep a rapist out of the White House. Is it really that important that you’re propping up a perjurer?
Reade could get up to four years in prison if she’s arrested and convicted. Oh, some of you say, it would be enough to fine her, send her the bill for any legal expenses, and stick her with enough restitution that she’ll be writing checks for the rest of her life.
But one of those cases involved Victoria Ramirez and Jennifer Vasquez, who were charged with setting fire to the home of Ramirez’ cheating boyfriend. Reade, then known as Alexandra McCabe, testified about the nature of intimate partner violence—specifically, why the boyfriend initially claimed he saw two women fleeing the scene, but later told police that he actually saw two men on the run. On that basis, Ramirez and Vasquez got life in prison.
It’s literally inconceivable that Reade didn’t know that Ramirez and Vasquez were facing the rest of their lives behind bars. The fact that she knew, and misrepresented her credentials anyway, demands that she get the full four years in jail. It’s the only way to restore confidence in the system.
This hits me on a personal level on two fronts. As someone who was falsely accused, the thought that this woman’s testalying sent innocent people to jail makes my blood run cold. And as a survivor of domestic violence, the prospect that survivors could potentially be victimized again as a result of their manifestly guilty abusers being released is beyond reprehensible. This is one time where I have no qualms about yelling—not just saying—“Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!”