Biden accuser Tara Reade bolts US for Russia, saying she fears for her safety

Tara Reade, the former Senate aide who in 2020 accused then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her nearly three decades earlier, has fled the U.S. for Russia and asked President Vladimir Putin for citizenship.

Reade made her surprise announcement on Tuesday in a lengthy interview with the pro-Russian Sputnik media organization. She appeared on a broadcast alongside Maria Butina, a suspected Kremlin spy who spent 13 months in a U.S. federal prison before being deported back to Russia in 2019, and thanked Butina for her assistance.

Biden has denied the allegations made by Reade, who claimed Tuesday that her continuing efforts to speak out publicly about the president made her feel unsafe about living in the United States.

"I'm still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good," Reade told Sputnik, saying she made the “very difficult” decision to leave the United States because of her security concerns. She stopped short of saying she was formally defecting and renouncing her U.S. citizenship.

“My dream is to live in both places, but it may be that I only live in this place and that's okay," Reade said.

During the joint appearance, Reade described Butina as "my friend," and Masha, a fond Russian diminutive of Maria. "We've known each other for quite some time now," Butina said in asking Putin himself to “fast track” Reade’s citizenship request.

"I feel very surrounded by protection and safety" in Russia, Reade said. "And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who's been giving me that at a time when it's been very difficult to know if I'm safe or not.”

“I just didn't want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices,” Reade said.

Reade didn’t specify why she felt threatened in the United States or provide details about how she ended up in Russia. But she hinted that the timing was related to her interest in talking publicly about her alleged relationship with Biden long ago, especially with the 2024 presidential election campaign heating up.

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