Betsy DeVos says ‘uncomfortable’ 2019 encounter with Biden would make him guilty of sexual harassment under his Title IX rules

Former Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos has accused President Joe Biden of inappropriate touching in connection to an alleged incident that occurred before he entered the White House.

Appearing on The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM on Wednesday, Ms Devos compared the interaction with Mr Biden to sexual harassment, according to the new definitions put forward by the administration for universities and colleges.

Ms DeVos said the encounter in early 2019 was the first time she met Mr Biden. She added that she was using a wheelchair at the time after having broken her pelvis.

She claimed that Mr Biden put his hands on her shoulders and leaned his forehead against hers “for several seconds”, saying that she had “nowhere to go to or escape”.

“If he had done that as a student on a college campus under his proposed rule, I would have a Title IX sexual harassment allegation to levy against him,” Ms DeVos told Ms Kelly.

Ms DeVos was the education secretary in Mr Trump’s Cabinet at the time. She was appointed in February 2017 shortly after his inauguration and left the administration after the Capitol riot on January 6 2021.

“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation,” she wrote in her resignation letter to Mr Trump.

Ms DeVos is a member of a wealthy family active in Michigan politics, supporting Republican candidates and conservative policies.

The Biden administration suggested in June that Title IX rules, which were removed during the leadership of Ms DeVos and Mr Trump, be put back in place. It would enforce protections for victims of discrimination, assault, and harassment, as well as expand the definition of sexual harassment to encompass all “unwelcome sex-based conduct that creates a hostile environment” which would restrict an individual from fully taking part in school programmes, according to The Detriot News.

According to the regulations from the Trump presidency, students have to show “clear and convincing evidence” that they have been harassed and cross-examination of witnesses at hearings is required.

The rules put forward by the Biden administration would remove the requirement for cross-examination and put in place a proof standard showing that discrimination likely occurred.

When he was a candidate, Mr Biden said that Ms DeVos’s Title IX regulations “shame and silence survivors”, The Detriot News noted.

The former education secretary said Mr Biden walked up to her backstage at an event and asked her if she had any “hardware” after being hurt.

Writing about it in her book that was published in June, Ms DeVos said she found it “uncomfortable” and “gross”.

Ms DeVos was in a wheelchair following a bike accident in late 2018, the right-wing Washington Examiner reported.

In her book Hostages No More: The Fight For Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child, Ms DeVos claimed Mr Biden “lingered” as she tried to roll back in her wheelchair.

“It was gross, and it was also a feeble attempt to intimidate me,” she wrote.

Ms DeVos and Mr Biden both spoke to the US Conference of Mayors on 24 January 2019.

“He must have heard about my accident because he came directly up to me. ‘How are you doing?’ he asked,” Ms DeVos wrote.

“Do you have any hardware?” she quoted him as asking. “I told him I had a very fine three-inch screw as the result of my accident.”

“Then, this casual encounter turned into something totally unexpected and uncomfortable. Biden leaned down, put his hands on my shoulders, and pressed his forehead to mine. He lingered. As I tried to figure out how I could roll the wheelchair and myself away, he said, ‘I have nine screws in my shoulder. But everyone thinks they’re in my head,’” she wrote.

“I think about that encounter every time I hear Biden talk about dismantling our reforms of Title IX,” she added in the book.

The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.