Joe Biden: Former Vice President Accused of Inappropriate Kiss

On Friday a Nevada state assemblywoman claimed that former Vice President Joe Biden had once placed an uncomfortable kiss on the back of her head at an event.

Lucy Flores unveiled her allegations in an essay published by The Cut, which is associated with New York Magazine. She detailed her interaction with Biden at a campaign event in November of 2014, when she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Nevada. According to Flores, Biden kissed the back of her head, leaving her feeling “uneasy, gross, and confused.”

“I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified,” Flores wrote. “He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused.”

Flores added that there was no real reason for Biden to be so close to her. She included a photo of herself with Biden and actress Eva Longoria at the event.

“I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me,” Flores added.

Flores’ accusation comes just as Biden is considering a run for president in 2020. Biden’s team responded to Flores’ essay in a statement to CNN given by spokesman Bill Russo.

“Vice President Biden was pleased to support Lucy Flores’s candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Nevada in 2014 and to speak on her behalf at a well-attended public event. Neither then, nor in the years since, did he or the staff with him at the time have an inkling that Ms. Flores had been at any time uncomfortable, nor do they recall what she describes,” Russo said.

“But Vice President Biden believes that Ms. Flores has every right to share her own recollection and reflections, and that it is a change for better in our society that she has the opportunity to do so,” the statement went on. “He respects Ms. Flores as a strong and independent voice in our politics and wishes her only the best.”

Flores has not reacted to the former vice president’s rebuttal. Her essay condemned Biden’s alleged behavior, noting that she had “never experienced anything so blatantly inappropriate and unnerving before.”

“Even if his behavior wasn’t violent or sexual, it was demeaning and disrespectful,” she wrote.

“I’m not suggesting that Biden broke any laws, but the transgressions that society deems minor (or doesn’t even see as transgressions) often feel considerable to the person on the receiving end. That imbalance of power and attention is the whole point — and the whole problem,” she added.

Flores also acknowledged she would likely suffer “the doubts, the threats, the insults, and the minimization” of many people who read her essay, but said that she wanted to publicize her story before Biden makes a real presidential bid.