Former Senate aide Tara Reade, who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault, declared her defection to Russia on Tuesday.

The startling admission was made while Reade and alleged Kremlin spy—and friend—Maria Butina were both seated at a Russian state press briefing. The fact that she no longer feels safe in Biden’s America led Reade to make the “very difficult” decision to move, she told the pro-Putin media.

Reade Feeling safe and secure

Reade told Sputnik that she’s still a little bit in a haze, but feels quite well and that she feels like she’s in a safe and secure environment.

She also thanked Maria [Butina] and everyone else who has been providing her with support in what to her is a very challenging time. She said she knows that there are Americans and Europeans seeking refuge in Russia and that it’s fortunate that Kremlin is amenable.

In the lengthy Tuesday discussion, which was live-streamed on Twitter and watched by around 500 people, Reade discussed a wide range of subjects, from her criticisms of America’s “terrible” highways to Russia’s current conflict with Ukraine. While she admitted having requested citizenship from Russian President Vladimir Putin, she denies having earlier ties to the country.

Who is Reade before defection?

She claimed that Biden, who was the Democratic candidate for president at the time, had sexually attacked her in a Capitol Hill office in 1993 when she was working as his staff assistant.

The accusations that rapidly became the center of the 2020 presidential campaign were “unequivocally” refuted by Biden.

Since the claims were made public in March 2020, her testimonies and that of the witnesses have been determined to be inconsistent by the media.

Reports also cast a critical focus on Reade’s academic background.

Likewise, she has a history of openly endorsing Putin. In a September 2019 tweet, for instance, she asserted that Americans “support” the Russian president.

She used her YouTube account to support Russian officials during their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and to denounce the restriction of “good news outlets like [state media] RT” in the process.

The photo above is from a YouTube screen grab