The woman, Amy Lappos, said in an interview with The Hartford Courant that Biden “put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me” at a fundraiser in Connecticut in 2009.
“When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth,” she said in the interview. She said the encounter “wasn’t sexual” but that there was “a line of respect” and Biden had crossed it.
Her allegations follow a weekend in which Biden defended himself against a similar complaint from a former Nevada assemblywoman, Lucy Flores, who said in an essay published on Friday that the former vice president had touched and kissed her inappropriately at a campaign event in 2014.
In a statement late Monday that Lappos sent to The New York Times, she said she was speaking out because she was disappointed in the way Flores has been treated in the aftermath of her allegations. “Uninvited affection is not okay. Objectifying women is not okay,” Lappos said.
“Referring to this type of behavior as ‘simply affection’ or ‘grandpalike’ or ‘friendly’ is ridiculously dismissive and part of the problem,’’ she said in the statement. “Saying ‘but Trump ... .’ is dangerous and sets the bar for Democratic men far below where it should be.”
Biden’s team had already issued two statements trying to contain the damage. Earlier Monday, his spokesman, Bill Russo, sent a lengthy email to reporters criticizing what he said were misrepresentations of Biden’s past behavior, and seeking to link some of the attacks on him to Republicans.
The aggressive response by Biden’s aides represents the latest indication of what they said over the weekend: that he will not be dissuaded by the allegations from entering the presidential race.
The challenge for Biden now is that Flores is no longer alone in speaking out.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.