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Stephanie Carter, the woman who appeared to be uncomfortable in a viral photo with former Vice President Joe Biden, is defending him against accusations of misconduct.

Carter, wife of former defense secretary Ash Carter, says the viral photos of Biden appearing to touch her inappropriately are “misleading.”

Carter defended Biden after Nevada politician Lucy Flores accused Biden of kissing her inappropriately during a campaign stop in 2014.

In a blog post on Medium.com on Sunday, Carter described what took place in her viral photo – even though her body language told a different story.

“After the swearing-in, as Ash was giving remarks, [Biden] leaned in to tell me ‘thank you for letting him do this’ and kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support,” Carter wrote. “But a still shot taken from a video – misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends – sent out in a snarky tweet – came to be the lasting image of that day.”

Ash Carter was appointed defense secretary in 2015 by former President Barack Obama. The Carters remain good friends with the Obamas.

In a previous incident in 2014, Flores says Biden, who was behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, sniffed her hair and planted an unwanted kiss on top of her head.

Her claims sparked a furious Twitter debate on whether Biden should enter into the 2020 presidential race.

Several hash tags including #CreepyJoeBiden were trending on Twitter.com as users posted old videos of Biden touching little girls and grown women inappropriately.

Biden denies touching anyone inappropriately. If he did, he says, it was his way of expressing “affection”. He didn’t recall the incident that Flores described.

In one disturbing video, Biden is seen pinching the chest of a minor child who reacts by moving away from his hand. In another video, he lingers too closely to another child who is clearly uncomfortable. She turns her face when he goes in for an unwanted kiss.
 

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images