Eight women have gone public in the last week with stories of unwanted contact from former Vice President Joe Biden in recent days.
Biden, who is expected to announce a 2020 presidential bid soon, said in a video posted on Twitter Thursday that he will be more mindful of personal space in the future, though he did not directly apologize to the women.
Friday in Washington, during his first public appearance since the wave of allegations, he said he felt bad if he made anyone uncomfortable, but he still wasn't apologizing. "I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I have never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman," Biden said.
Here are the women who have spoken out against Biden so far.
1. Lucy Flores, the 2014 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Nevada, was the first to come forward with a story of unwanted contact from Biden.
She wrote in a post on the Cut that Biden attended a campaign rally in support of her candidacy in 2014. Just before her speech, she said Biden came up to her from behind, smelled her hair, and planted a kiss on the back of her head.
2. Amy Lappos, a Connecticut resident, said Biden inappropriately rubbed noses with her in 2009 at a fundraiser for Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.
"It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head," Lappos, 43, told the Hartford Courant Monday. "He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth."
Lappos was the first who wrote about her experience in a Facebook post.
3. D.J. Hill, a writer, said that at a 2012 fundraising event in Minneapolis, Biden put his hand on her shoulder and slowly dropped it down her back in a way that made her “very uncomfortable.”
“Only he knows his intent,” Hill, 59, told the New York Times in a story published Tuesday. “If something makes you feel uncomfortable, you have to feel able to say it.”
4. Caitlyn Caruso said when she was 19, Biden rested his hand on her thigh and hugged her “just a little bit too long” when she met him at event on sexual assault at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The incident with Biden came just after she talked about her own sexual assault at the event. “It doesn’t even really cross your mind that such a person would dare perpetuate harm like that,” she said.
Caruso, now 22, told the New York Times, “These are supposed to be people you can trust.”
5. Vail Kohnert-Yount said that when she was a White House intern in spring 2013, Biden introduced himself to her as he was passing by in the White House basement.
“He then put his hand on the back of my head and pressed his forehead to my forehead while he talked to me. I was so shocked that it was hard to focus on what he was saying. I remember he told me I was a ‘pretty girl,’” Kohnert-Yount told the Washington Post.
Kohnert-Yount said she does not consider the incident sexual assault, but rather an issue of equal respect for women in the workplace.
6. Sofie Karasek was pictured with her forehead pressed to Biden’s at the 2016 Oscars. She was part of a group of sexual assault victims who appeared onstage with Lady Gaga.
Karasek, then 22, told Biden about a story of a sexual assault victim who had recently died by suicide. Biden then held her hands and put his forehead to hers.
She told the Washington Post that Biden’s response felt awkward and uncomfortable and that she did not know how to respond.
“He emphasized that he wants to connect with people and, of course, that’s important. But again, all of our interactions and friendships are a two-way street. ... Too often it doesn’t matter how the woman feels about it, or they just assume that they’re fine with it,” Karasek said.
7. Ally Coll said Biden squeezed her shoulders, complimented her smile, and held her for “a beat too long” when she met him at a reception she helped run in 2008.
Coll now runs the Purple Campaign, a nonprofit group that fights sexual harassment in the workplace. She said that at the time she felt excited about meeting Biden, but she now thinks his behavior was out of place.
“There’s been a lack of understanding about the way that power can turn something that might seem innocuous into something that can make somebody feel uncomfortable,” Coll told the Washington Post.
8. Alexandra Tara Reade, a Nevada resident, said that when she worked in Biden’s Delaware Senate office in 1993, he touched her several times in ways that made her uncomfortable. She was in her mid-20s at the time.
“He used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck,” Reade told the Union. “I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that.”
Biden cracked a joke Friday about unwanted contact.
"I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie," Biden said, referring to Lonnie Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who introduced Biden.
He later told reporters that he "wouldn't be surprised" if more women came forward.