Lucy Flores Calls Joe Biden’s ‘Touching’ Jokes ‘Disrespectful’

A Nevada Democrat who accused Joe Biden of touching her without permission says the former vice president has been “so incredibly disrespectful” by joking about the matter.

Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state legislator, said she wants to force a discussion on how powerful men treat women even as she affirmed that her recollections of a 2014 encounter with Biden did not involve touching of a sexual or violent nature.

“The basis of the behavior that I talked about was something much more serious than just a hug,” Flores says. “That is unprofessional, inappropriate behavior, no matter who does it.”

Flores claimed that Biden touched her shoulders from behind, smelled her hair and kissed her head without permission during a 2014 political event.

Biden recalls their encounter differently, and says he has never touched anyone in a way that could be deemed inappropriate. But after accounts from Flores and other women, Biden released a video saying he would be “much more mindful” of personal space and that “social norms have begun to change.”

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However, just a few days later, Biden spoke at an electrical workers conference jokingly asking if he had the permission to hug a union leader he was being introduced to. He later repeated the joke about a boy he invited on stage.