US presidential candidate Biden says he did not treat Anita Hill badly

The Democrat headed the 1991 committee which browbeat Hill into testifying in graphic details about alleged sexual harassment by a Supreme Court nominee. Recently, several women alleged Biden made them uncomfortable by touching them.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman during the hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in which law professor Anita Hill testified she was sexually harassed by Thomas while she was his aide. In this file photo, Counsel Charles Ogeltree advises Hill during her testimony in Washington, DC in US on October 11, 1991.
Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman during the hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in which law professor Anita Hill testified she was sexually harassed by Thomas while she was his aide. In this file photo, Counsel Charles Ogeltree advises Hill during her testimony in Washington, DC in US on October 11, 1991.

Former US vice president Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that the former VP had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

AFP

In this file photo, former US vice president Joe Biden leaves a rally, organised by UFCW Union members to support Stop and Shop employees on strike throughout the region, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. April 18, 2019.

'I don't think I treated her badly'

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. ... How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologise,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

Accused of inappropriate touching

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space," he replied. "I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

An ageing cohort of men

Biden, 76, served as former president Barack Obama's vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

Earlier, Trump told reporters he feels "young" and "vibrant" at age 72 and thinks he can beat 76-year-old Joe Biden "easily."

"I just feel like a young man. I'm so young. I can't believe it .... I'm a young vibrant man," Trump said.

Biden, the second-oldest contender in the race behind Bernie Sanders, joked in response on the ABC interview that if Trump "looks young and vibrant compared to me, I should probably go home."

Biden's first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

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