The wife of former Defense Secretary Ash Carter denied then-Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE made her uncomfortable in a viral photo that showed Biden with his hands on her shoulders.
In a Medium post published Sunday evening, Stephanie Carter wrote that the 2015 image was “misleadingly extracted” from its proper context.
ADVERTISEMENT
The picture, which depicts a moment at Carter’s swearing-in ceremony, has frequently been used to suggest Biden, who is considering a run for president, has a history of violating women’s boundaries. Carter’s post also comes amid recently published allegations by former Nevada Assemblywoman Lucy Flores that Biden sniffed her hair and kissed her on the back of the head in 2014 in a “violation of my bodily autonomy.”
In the post, Carter describes the moments leading up to the photo, during which she writes she had slipped on ice shortly before and was feeling more self-conscious than she would otherwise.
“After the swearing in, as Ash was giving remarks, [Biden] leaned in to tell me ‘thank you for letting him do this’ and kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support,” Carter wrote. “But a still shot taken from a video — misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends — sent out in a snarky tweet — came to be the lasting image of that day.”
“I won’t pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me,” Carter writes.
Biden has not yet made a decision on a presidential run, but most early polls have shown him leading the field, with Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) usually in second place. Several Democratic candidates have responded to Flores’s allegations, with both Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill Trump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names MORE (D-Mass.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro both expressing support for her.
Click Here: los jaguares argentina