The House Oversight Committee distances itself from an effort by Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to bring in Tara Reade, who has accused President Biden of sexually assaulting her, for a interview after Gaetz announced that panel chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) had given the go-ahead.
But Greene said on Wednesday that while there has been some “miscommunication,” she is in the early stages of bringing Reade in for a transcribed interview.
Gaetz, who is not on the House Oversight panel, said on his podcast released Wednesday that Comer told Greene “we would be fully authorized to bring in Tara Reade to conduct her transcribed interview.” Reade went public during the 2020 campaign to accuse Biden of sexually assaulting her when she worked as a staffer in his Senate office in 1993, which Biden has denied.
The House Oversight Committee quickly backtracked on Gaetz’s claim.
“The Oversight Committee is focused on the business plans and banking records of the Biden family. Chairman Comer is happy to speak with Rep. Gaetz about oversight he believes should be done and in which committee it should be done,” a spokesman for the committee said in a statement.
Reportedly told Politico: “I don’t even know who that is” when asked about Gaetz’s announcement of a Reade interview, noting that his committee had made no announcement. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also told The Hill that he knew nothing about a Reade interview.
Still, Greene and Gaetz said there had been a discussion with Comer about interviewing Reade.
“We’re going to talk to her. I just confirmed that. There will be a multi-step process because the biggest story we have right now is the bank records,” Greene said, referring to documents obtained by the Treasury Department’s oversight committee regarding companies associated with the family members of Biden.
Greene said a transcribed interview “is going to take place,” but it’s not scheduled yet.
“We’ll talk to her privately first. And then we schedule a transcribed interview,” Greene said.
Greene said she would likely include Gaetz, who is on the House Judiciary Committee, in the interview.
“I’m in,” Gaetz said, noting that “Oversight and the judiciary have a history of collaborating on investigations.”
“It used to happen quickly — there was — it was a bit of a miscommunication,” Greene said.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) took a personal swipe at Gaetz when asked about a Reade interview.
“Wasn’t he the subject of years of investigation?” Connolly said, referring to the Justice Department investigating Gaetz for sex trafficking but declining to press charges. “And he wants to subpoena and make a statement whose credentials are, shall we say, highly suspect.”
While Reade received some corroboration from people who said she told them about the attack decades ago, other past acquaintances of hers cast doubt on her credibility, and discrepancies and confusion over whether she had graduated from college, such as she said she had further damaged her public credibility.
Member of the Monitoring Committee Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), for his part, indicated that he takes Gaetz at his word that there will be an interview with Reade.
“If it’s the middle of August and Matt Gaetz tells me it’s fixing the snow, I’m going to get my sled here,” Burchett said when asked about the situation.
Read on the weekend called on Greene and Gaetz to investigate her allegations of sexual assault, following President Donald Trump’s announcement that he could soon be arrested in connection with the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into hush money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Green on Sunday responded that they would like to invite Reade to speak with them in Washington to “stand up against the bipartisan justice system”.
Mychael Schnell contributed.
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