Washington (AFP) – US presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday emphatically denied sexually assaulting a former aide, saying the incident she says occurred 27 years ago “never happened.”The former vice president thus broke a month of silence on the most potentially damaging claims he has confronted since launching his White House bid a year ago. Republicans have weaponized them in an effort to damage his prospects against President Donald Trump in November’s election.”They aren’t true. This never happened,” Biden said in a statement regarding the accusations made by Tara Reade, a former staf…