The photographs taken during the swearing-in of then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2015 that showed Vice President Joe Biden standing behind the ex-cabinet member’s wife with two hands on her shoulders and– at times– his nose nuzzled against her hair, were misleading and “extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends,” Stephanie Carter said in a post on Medium.
The photographs from the Feb. 17, 2015 ceremony made their way back into the public eye in recent days after recent allegations against Biden. Nevada’s Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores alleged in an article Friday that the former vice president “plant[ed] a big slow kiss” on the back of her head.
Bill Russo, a spokesman for Biden, told the Associated Press that the former vice president doesn’t remember kissing Flores.
“In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort,” Biden said in his own statement Sunday. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.”
Carter titled her post, “The #MeToo Story That Wasn’t Me.” She said her intention was to set the record straight that the moment was simply a longtime friend supporting another friend. But she wrote that Biden could sense she was nervous and “kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support.” – READ MORE