Tara Reade, the American woman who accused former U.S. President Joe Biden of sexual assault in the 1990s, has been granted Russian citizenship, according to a decree signed Monday by President Vladimir Putin.
The decree, published on Russia’s official legal information portal, confirmed that “McCabe Alexandra Tara, born February 26, 1964” — Reade’s legal name since 1998 — is now a Russian citizen. Reade adopted the name Alexandra McCabe after alleging domestic abuse by her former husband.
Reade came to prominence in 2020 when she accused Biden, then a presidential candidate, of sexually assaulting her in a Capitol Hill corridor in 1993 while she worked in his Senate office. Biden has consistently denied the allegation, which became a flashpoint during his campaign against Donald Trump.
Amid questions over the credibility of her claims — including the absence of a record of the complaint she said she filed with Congress — Reade announced in May 2023 that she was seeking Russian citizenship, citing concerns for her safety in the United States.
She later settled in Moscow, giving interviews to Russian state media, before signaling in July 2024 on social platform X that she intended to return to the U.S. to press charges against Biden. Days later, Biden withdrew from his re-election bid due to health issues.
