Biden tells NPR he "fought like hell" to support Anita Hill and oppose Clarence Thomas'

[ucrdem]

99. Biden says she backed out, and he was running the hearings.

The 1994 WaPo article you linked to above says Wright was angling for a columnist's job, and she says she was "betrayed" by someone on her paper who published her Thomas column without her permission, thus triggering the invitation from Washington:

Wright says she never intended to have the column published; she intended it as a sample only. She showed it to some co-workers. She planned to polish it, and eventually submit it to editors, but she never got the chance. The next day, she was at work when a clerk yelled across the newsroom that she had a phone call.

It was the Senate Judiciary Committee. Its members wondered if she would be willing to talk to them about Clarence Thomas. They had heard that she'd written a column on the subject.

Someone at the paper, she realized, had betrayed her.

Something had begun that might be unstoppable.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/10/09/the-other-woman/ca495db5-5a09-4397-8620-fd443751c8e2/?utm_term=.76ccc00d67c1

Wright had a lot to lose, says she was unwillingly brought into the process, says she never meant to publish the column, says a lot of things. Biden claims she declined to testify at the last minute. That was perfectly within her rights, and she probably would have paid a high price if she had. So I'm sorry but I'm inclined to believe Biden. He also named a staffer, Ron Klein, who was managing the hearing and also knew of Wright's change of mind.