Joe Biden: Anita Hill "paid a terrible price;" The former vice president regrets not having "the audience that she deserved"

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he regrets Anita Hill did not have "the kind of audience that she deserved" during Clarence Thomas& # 39; confirmation fight. Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 when Hill accused Thomas of having sexually harassed him years ago, and Biden had stated that the FBI's investigation was not conclusive.

Speaking at Biden Courage awards, Biden said Hill had "paid a terrible price" when she had testified before a "group of whites".

"She was abused during the hearing," said Biden. "We took advantage of it, its reputation was attacked, I would have liked to be able to do something."

Ms. Biden testified that in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms. Hill "faced a committee that did not fully understand what it was".

"What should we have done differently? What can we do differently to ensure that a woman who has been harassed and assaulted does not again undergo a second round of harassment or public rape?" simply because she had the courage to take a step forward? " Said Biden. "It's just wrong, and we have to start looking at things differently, IMHO."

When Hill testified, Biden asked him to go into the details of some of Thomas's alleged comments, even though she said that it was "graphic". "Well, I can tell you that he compared the size of his penis, he measured his penis in terms of length, that kind of comment," Hill told the Committee.

Biden has been criticized for failing to stop attacks on Hill's reputation at confirmation hearings. during Container Confirmation Hearing of Brett Kavanaugh In September 2018, Republicans publicized its comments on the FBI's investigation. At that time, Biden issued a statement that "despite all the efforts made to distort my words and my record, I insisted and obtained an investigation from the FBI twenty-seven years ago."

"Almost 30 years later, when I've is publicly excused to Anita because she did not have the audience that she deserved and that the Judiciary Committee of the Senate has the power and the obligation to set a standard for the nation, this should not be one of the most difficult places for a woman to tell a story of abuse and harassment, "Biden said. And yet, last fall, you've seen everything with the Kavanaugh audience. Nearly 30 years, the institutional culture has not changed and this reduces the likelihood that other women will come forward knowing what they will face. "

Biden has not yet publicly declared that he is a candidate for the presidency, although many polls place him ahead of other Democratic contenders when he decides to join the race.