You probably remember Tara Reade as the woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault. Even at the time, the media noticed that Reade had some unusual opinions about Russia and Vladimir Putin. The Krassenstein brothers put together this Medium post collecting all of the information about her fondness for Russia.

In 2017, Tara Reade spent a lot of her time on Twitter, like many liberal Americans, attacking Russia and Vladimir Putin for interfering in our elections, among other things. Reade has a plethora of tweets, retweets and/or “likes” attacking Putin and his country, for everything from their inhumane stance on Domestic Violence to their attacks on America’s democracy…

Then, suddenly in 2018, and continuing through part of 2020, Reade’s stance did a complete 180-degree turn. She began praising Putin, in a way similar to what you see from Russian trolls on social media. Through multiple blog posts on Medium, Reade seemingly became obsessed with Russia and completely captivated by Vladimir Putin.

In one article written in November of 2018, entitled “Why a Liberal Democrat Supports Vladimir Putin,” she wrote:

“President Putin has an alluring combination of strength with gentleness. His sensuous image projects his love for life, the embodiment of grace while facing adversity. It is evident that he loves his country, his people and his job.”

When the NY Times decided to send questions to Reade in preparation for a story on her allegations, they sent her a bunch of questions which were later released on Twitter by Rose McGowan. Among the questions were several about Russia.

Near the end the questions suggest the Times is looking into Reade’s connections to Russia: “Several people told me you were dating a Russian man online in the spring of 2019. Is that true? How did you meet and can you tell me about the relationship?”

And what is this about? “On Quora you followed three Russian individuals… How was it that you came to know of them and follow them?”

I say all of that as lead in to what happened today. Tara Reade flew to Russia, allegedly because she was afraid for her own safety, and held a press conference hosted by Russian state media in which she said she was applying for Russian citizenship.

On Tuesday, the former Senate aide who had accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault appeared at a Russian state press conference to make the announcement. Flanked by alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, Reade told the press that she no longer feels safe in America.

“I feel very surrounded by protection and safety,” Reade said. “And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I’m safe or not.”

The Guardian has more:

“I just didn’t want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices.”…

Reade said: “To my Russian brothers and sisters, I’m sorry right now that American elites are choosing to have such an aggressive stance. Just know that most American citizens do want to be friends and hope that we can have unity again.

“I am enjoying my time in Moscow, and I feel very at home.”

I’ve seen several progressives on Twitter claiming this proves they were right not to take Reade’s claims about Biden seriously, i.e. claiming she’s a nut. Of course fleeing the country where your alleged abuser is president isn’t all that crazy but offering to become part of Vladimir Putin’s propaganda effort in the midst of a war does seem pretty batty. And it leaves me with a bunch of questions of my own about what she’s thinking. For starters, what exactly is in this for her? She says it’s about safety but how does she expect to live in Russia without being able to speak the language? Is she living with someone? Is she being supported by someone?

Maybe she explained all of that in her endless press conference. I admit I only watched about 30 minutes of this. If you feel inclined to dive in, here it is in full. Honestly, I’m wondering if this is looped because I doubt it actually lasted 8 hours but who knows.