The New York Times is facing blowback after its executive editor admitted to removing a controversial passage in a story focusing on a 1993 sexual assault allegation against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The criticism comes after the Times published an article looking into allegations made against Biden by Tara Reade, who says the then-senator sexually assaulted her when she worked as a Biden senate staffer.

“The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable,” read the original passage in a Sunday story before it was removed.

Times executive editor Dean Baquet told the news organization’s media columnist Ben Smith that the edit was made because the Biden campaign argued the phrasing made it appear that other women had made similar accusations against Biden.

“The [Biden] campaign thought that the phrasing was awkward and made it look like there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual misconduct,” Baquet told Smith.

Smith then pressed Baquet on why the Times didn’t acknowledge the change in an editor’s note to readers.

“We didn’t think it was a factual mistake. I thought it was an awkward phrasing issue that could be read different ways and that it wasn’t something factual we were correcting,” Baquet said.

Smith also raised questions about whether Biden was being treated differently in the Times coverage than Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced allegations of sexual assault during his confirmation process in 2018.

Smith’s story, titled, “The Times Took 19 Days to Report an Accusation Against Biden. Here’s Why,” asks why the paper wrote about Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick’s allegations the same day they were made without any independent corroboration, while the Times waited 19 days before publishing a piece on Reade’s accusations.

“Kavanaugh was already in a public forum in a large way,” answered Baquet, who argued claims against the then-nominee were already in the public forum.

“If you ask the average person in America, they didn’t know about the Tara Reade case,” Baquet continued. “We needed to introduce it with some reporting and perspective … and help people understand what to make of a fairly serious allegation against a guy who had been a vice president of the United States and was knocking on the door of being his party’s nominee.”

Swetnick’s claims were dismissed by an incredulous Kavanaugh as “a joke” during Senate confirmation hearings in October 2018, while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called Swetnick’s claims “outlandish … put forth without any credible supporting evidence,” adding, “that such an allegation can find its way into the Supreme Court confirmation process is a stark reminder about why the presumption of innocence is so ingrained in our American consciousness.”

NBC News contacted four people Swetnick said could corroborate her story.

One could not recall who Swetnick was, one other person was dead, and two did not respond to requests for comment, per NBC News.

Reaction to the Smith interview of Baquet was swift across the political spectrum, with Smith being praised for the questioning.

In NYT, @benyt asks top editor Dean Baquet some excellent questions about paper’s Tara Reade coverage versus its Kavanaugh coverage. Gets weak and sometimes laughable answers. https://t.co/2vJpYv5HRr pic.twitter.com/fb3BpXxT1N

— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 13, 2020

Another good day not to be the NYT public editor https://t.co/Wpvo0fePgZ

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) April 13, 2020

Excellent @benyt interview of NYT Executive Editor Dean Baquet on why the paper took so long to report on Tara Reade’s allegations against Joe Biden, how they did the reporting, and why they changed the text afterward.

Great to see Ben doing this stuff:https://t.co/TmJI5P4d84

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 13, 2020

Good for @bensmith for asking Dean Baquet why the NYT covered an accusation against Kavanaugh far more aggressively than an accusation against Biden. Baquet’s answer that Kavanaugh was more in the public forum than Biden is…quite lacking. https://t.co/F1t4qgLpOX

— Elise Jordan (@Elise_Jordan) April 14, 2020

This was quite revealing. Kudos to @benyt for really pressing Dean Baquet on the possible double standard with respect to Biden and Kavanaugh. https://t.co/hOw5mPXOUD

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) April 14, 2020

Good news, guys. Apparently the 2020 primary is not a “public forum in a large way” or a “live ongoing story” https://t.co/MrsVSco2gj pic.twitter.com/gTm5fv3eEo

— Rachael Larimore (@RachaelBL) April 14, 2020

Remember the press spent a month essentially arguing that underage drinking was evidence that Kavanaugh committed sexual assault, but a long pattern of “hugs, kisses, and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable” proves Biden’s innocence. pic.twitter.com/CPGr48o8nK

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) April 12, 2020

Heya @deanbaquet – Remember this “straight news story” pic.twitter.com/d8Had6kaL6

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 14, 2020

Smith joined The New York Times in 2020 after being founding BuzzFeed eight years prior.