Tara Reade says she is now Russian citizen

Tara Reade, a former Senate aide who accused former President Biden of sexual assault, said on Monday that she is now a Russian citizen. 

“This was a very special day. I am now a Russian citizen! What an honor. Thank you to President Putin for this amazing honor of signing a decree making me a citizen and keeping me safe when I applied for asylum,” Reade said in a post on social platform X. 

“Thank you to @Maria_Butina who stood with me and helped me on this journey to safety. Thank you to @M_Simonyan who gave me support and helped me to apply for citizenship and  @RT_com,” she wrote. “I am so proud to work at RT. I am a lucky girl.” 

Butina, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to operating as an unregistered foreign agent after seeking to infiltrate conservative circles, is now a Russian member of parliament. Simonyan is editor-in-chief of the Russian state broadcaster RT, where Reade now works.

Reade, who moved to Russia in 2023, worked in Biden’s office in the 1990s, while he was a senator representing Delaware.  

Reade accused Biden of harassment in 2020 during the presidential campaign. Biden denied the allegations at the time and no formal charges were pressed against the ex-president. 

Reade asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for a Russian passport in May 2023, during a press conference, adding that a GOP member of Congress warned her that she was in danger.