Biden, 77, has also faced accusations of sexual misconduct — as has President Donald Trump, whom Biden will almost certainly face in November’s general election.

Last month, a former Senate assistant who worked for Biden in the 1990s accused him of sexually assaulting her in ’93, which his campaign strongly denied.

“His hands were on me and underneath my clothes, and then he went down my skirt but then up inside it and he penetrated me with his fingers,” Tara Reade said on a podcast episode in late March, describing the alleged altercation.

“He just had me up against the wall,” Reade said then. “The wall was cold. I remember it happened all at once.”

Biden — who had previously been accused of inappropriate touching, which he chalked up to changing social mores — denied the new assault allegation through his campaign.

The campaign also provided a statement from a co-worker of Reade’s in the ’90s who vouched for Biden.

“He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully,” spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement. “Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”

Trump has faced more than a dozen allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct and assault, including rape.

Former PEOPLE reporter Natasha Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her during an interview in December 2005. “Within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat,” she recalled in 2016.

(He has denied these stories and is being sued by two women who claim he defamed them by saying they weren’t telling the truth.)

Trump was infamously recorded on the set of Access Hollywood in 2005 bragging about abusing women.

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them,” he said then. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. … When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p——. You can do anything.”

• Reporting by ADAM CARLSON

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