Transcripts For CSPAN Sexual Harassment Abuse Stories 20171224

Fears, stop harassment take your power back. Wo a settlement against former fox news president n, roger ailes. Talking start out by about Harvey Weinstein, that is the story everyone is talking about right now. Every day, some new atrocity occurs, like yesterday or the day before. Three more people came forward beenthe idea this has going on for years and years and years. There were eight settlements against him. Obviously everybody in the company knew about it. I have to say, i wonder about his wife, who i gather last night announced she was leaving him, finally. Not haveould possibly heard about this how do you think this happened . How is this allowed to go on and on and have nobody ever speak out until now . Gretchen because as a society and culture, we protect harassers. If somebody can actually tell me that is a 20 million question, why . Is it because we are protecting our own jobs . Protectingse we are a person in power . I think those are the top two reasons. But now that the floodgates have been opened, i give so much credit to the women who were able to tell their stories. Either way, eight settlements eight have been reported. There that does not mean were only eight people molested or assaulted or raped. We know there were three other ple who were raped whod what is the statute of limitation on rate rape . Gretchen it is a crime, with a longer period. Whetherds on the state, it is a federal violation or state violation. That is another thing we need to look into. There are so many ways we should look into laws, helping more women come forward. Especially an issue like Sexual Harassment, it is less than two years. Jobs thatand does not excuse the men and companies and people on the and thed the lawyers people who had to be involved in the settlement of those eight women had to know about it. Why did they not say anything, and who are they . I want their names on the front pages. Gretchen i do, too. We would have to fill up every newspaper that existed. It is not just that company. They are covering it up in hundreds and thousands of Companies Across this country and the world. Is, whyquestion you ask did we protect them . What i found out from research sometimes they even protect a lowlevel employer. Employee. Let me give you an example. Someone goes into a job, they say, be careful of joe, he has been here 30 years, he has a rude sense of compete sense of humor. Sure enough, a woman complains, and to do they protect . Joe. Tois not a central person the company, not the ceo, but they protect joe and that woman stays out. It is at every level. You, the Harvey Weinstein story. Sally not just you, we all do. I was horrified, but also thrilled that this came out, that he was outed, that he was fired, lost the company, that he is going into therapy, thrilled his wife is leaving him. He should be shunned. This is a huge step forward for all of us. Have had theseo experiences, and we all have. Gretchen and it is a step forward for the enablers, the people you mentioned, who will also be called out. Shame thateel the all of those women felt and should not have. Enablers are a huge part of this problem, and a huge part of this solution. Sexual harassment training and companies should focus more on enablers than anything else. How do we give the courage to the enabler to not be an enabler and come forward . It is crucial. Sally i said to you earlier as i was reading your book, i got madder and madder. You think, this cant be happening, can be happening today, and yet it is. The reason we are here is because of your experience at fox news, your Sexual Harassment suit against roger ailes. I know you cant talk about it, but i can. In your to read has unlawfullyes retaliated against carlson and sabotage her career because she refused his Sexual Harassment and was subjected to pervasive Sexual Harassment. Ailes retaliated against carlson in various ways, including by terminating her employment, and ostracizing, marginalizing, and shunning her after making clear these problems would not have existed and could have been solved if she had a sexual relationship with him. Ton carl met withson ailes discuss, he said, you and i should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago. And then you would be good and better and i would be good and better, adding that sometimes problems are easier to solve that way. Sexal rebuffedn ailess advances, and then he ended her career at fox news. First of all, he was so repulsive. The idea that someone like roger ailes would think he could get , that he would be attractive enough to anyone to even pick him up, were it not for the outrage of what he was one of the things you cannot talk about, you did resolve this lawsuit and reached a 22 Million Dollars settlement. As far as i am concerned, that is not enough. Why cant you talk about it . Is that not part of the problem . Gretchen it is. Sally in order to reach a settlement, you have to agree not to talk about it. Gretchen just as a caveat with regard to the revolution, i am giving that money away to the gift of courage fund. I want to be clear about that. And the proceeds from my book are going to the gift of courage. Settlements, yes. Our is the way in which culture has decided to resolve these kinds of cases. Over 90 of Sexual Harassment cases end up in settlement. What does that mean . The woman that he much never works in her chosen career ever again, and can never talk about it, she is dead. How else to resolve sexualharassment suits . We put in arbitration clauses in Employment Contracts for a secret proceeding. Again, nobody finds out about it if you file a complaint, you can never talk about it, ever, nobody ever knows what happens to you, and in most cases you are terminated from the company, and in many cases, he is allowed to work in the same position he was harassing you. This is the way our society has decided to resolve to fullarassment cases, everyone out there that we have come so far in 2017. We think wee have come so far is because we are not hearing about these cases. The reason we are not hearing about the cases is because the women are silent. Either through settlement or forced arbitration. Said, iuppose you had am bringing this case and i want to settle, but i do not want this silence. With a have said, go away . They would have . Gretchen i was given the benefit of being able to talk about this issue openly and hear other peoples stories and talk about ways in which i think we should change laws and have a conversation right now. That is rare. Sally what do we do to change this from happening to someone else where you can file a Sexual Harassment charge and reach a settlement, but it does not include silencing you . How do we go about changing them . Gretchen the first thing, the work i am doing on capitol hill, we have to take forced arbitration clauses out of Employment Contracts, or at least take the secrecy out of it. I am working diligently to get a bipartisan bill on the. Politicalassment is a apolitical. Democrats and republicans at should care about this equally, for their daughters, granddaughters, nieces. I have been meeting with them privately to get them on board to support this bill and take the private take the secrecy out it out of it. It means if you are sexually harass, you can file a public complaint and have a jury trial, which is your seventh amendment right. The way it works now, if you file a complaint, it is a secret, and you go to arbitration, where only 20 of the time does the victim actually win. It is not like an open court system. You cannot call the same amount of witnesses, the depositions are different, there is no appeal. And people hearing the cases are whored lawyers and judges, may not be as adept at understanding sexualharassment in this generation. Sally or they may. Gretchen they are mostly men. Sally that is what i am saying. Gretchen they will not side with the victim. We need to start their. There. If i can get a bipartisan bill to pass that takes the secrecy out of this, that is a warning shot to companies that you cannot hide this kind of behavior anymore. Sally explain to me why this is not a nobrainer. When you go to the hill and talk to members of congress and say, i want this arbitration bill, i want this changed why would anyone say no . Give me a good reason. Gretchen number one big reason is because democrats are in favor of this and republicans support big business. Ht there,y say, re, little girl, we are supporting big business. What are they saying . Gretchen they are taking meetings with me and listening. They are thinking along and hard about the ramifications of their own children. This is why i did this for their wives. Many of their wives have been sexually harassed. People are so frustrated with politicians in general. Hand, i think rationally theyd look at this and realize they should be on board. They have a whole other constituency. Sally lets talk about silence. The big business guys, because im sure they are guys, will go into talk to their republican congressman, lobby them, and say you cannot do this. And the reason, we are sexually harassing these women, and we could lose a lot of money. Gretchen they are not that blatant, but i get your point. Sally that is the only reason they could be against it. Gretchen the argument about arbitration is that it is cheaper for the employee, you dont have to hire lawyers and go through a long process of a trial. That is not really true, there are a lot of costs with arbitration. The biggest thing, Big Companies will say we are doing a service to not involve the court, because the courts are already overworked. Sally they care about the court . To solve it is a way Small Business disputes by putting them into arbitration. Those are the arguments given. Here is the problem. When you start a new job, youre just happy to have the job and a paycheck, youre not thinking about the arbitration clause and not thinking there would be a dispute. I never thought i would be there. When you do and suddenly realize you do not have your rates anymore, thatghts is a daunting day, because you realize you have no options and your rights have been taken away. This is what i am explaining to members of congress. Sally this was not your first experience. Tell me a couple you had before when you were 22. You had two or three experiences that were pretty disgusting. Gretchen unfortunately, it is not my first day at the rodeo. It was when i was miss america, actually. May be the blessing of that was that i had built tough skin. Suddenly my resume of a concert violinist, selye torian, harvard grad, evaporated. Dumb blonde. Six skin a lot. Then i was meeting with Television Executives because i knew it was the career i wanted. One was so nice, made phone calls, took me to dinner. I thought it would be a great beginning for me. We got into the backseat of the car service to take me back to my friends apartment, suddenly he was on top of me, with his tongue down my throat. I remember being panic and thinking, how my going to get out of this . I screamed for the driver to stop. I got out, not knowing where i was. I got to my friends apartment and just lost it in emotion. Dot did i do, why did he this to me, did he not respect my brains, was he really trying to help me . All of that goes away. I never, ever spoke to him ever again. I guess he really did not want to help me. Unfortunately, a couple weeks later i was in los angeles meeting with a highpowered publicist i was a gogetter, knocking on doors to get a career started. Unfortunately, i was in a car again with him, and he took my head with his hand, forcefully jammed my head into its crotch so hard that i could not breathe. Sally this is better than flowers and candy . [laughter] gretchen here is the fascinating part about this. I never really spoke openly about this story until recently. But more importantly, it was a friend, when i was telling her those stories who said to me, you realize those were both assaults . I said, what are you talking about . That is assault. I had never to find it that way it that wayfined before. It speaks volumes about how we normalize this as women, in culture. We think we can overcome it, so we put it aside, and we dont acknowledge it for what it is. Natasha you told me this. She was one of the alleged trump of victims. She said what happened to her was assault. She tells her story in be fierce. Sally she was a People Magazine reporter. Gretchen she was at maralago, doing a story about the president s latest child with melania. Wentaid that when melania up the change her clothing, he took her into a room and forcibly kissed her. She actually took herself off of that premier beat. She told people, which is huge. You need to tell people. Sally she told People Magazine at the time . Gretchen and im saying, in general, women should tell people. Tell human beings what happened, it is a he said, she said culture. When i interviewed her for my book, she told me it was assault. Sally she came forward with her story. Gretchen she was listening to one of the debates where the president had said he had never forcefully kissed anyone against their will. And she thought, i dont want to be silent anymore. Sally she came out with it and had been friends with melania. I know she ran into melania on the streets and they kissed and hugged and she said, where have you been . Deniedhis story, melania it, said they never ran into each other, never happened. What do you say about the wives who were enabling their husbands to do this kind of thing . Melania is a perfect example. I do not know about Harvey Weinsteins wife, georgina chapman, how she could not have an inkling of this after 10 years of marriage. Gretchen i hope they can find a way in their heart also be fierce and stand up for who they are as women and give themselves more respect. You mentioned jane fonda had several experiences. Gretchen she just came out of 79 years old and said she was raped earlier in her career. And abused. And she had never told those stories before. This is the culture we live in, where these kinds of stories are stuffed down, and women are made to feel ashamed that something happened to them, when in essence, they were shamed. We have to turn this issue totally in the opposite direction. I do sense it is happening now. Sally Gwyneth Paltrow came forward and so did angelina jolie. Say, god love meryl streep for speaking out against Harvey Weinstein, who she had worked with. The issue of shame fascinates me. I have had, as all women have had, a number of experiences like this. Senator i was 19 when a senator was supposed to take me to lunch. Then he took me to dinner and took me to a bar where i should not have gone. We got in a cab and he tried to rape me in the back of the cab. I was so ashamed, i cried for days. I did not tell anybody for a couple of years. But i started telling people. When he came up as secretary of defense, i have these two fbi agents come to the house and say, we heard about your experience and we are checking on his resume. Tell us about it. Which is totally confidential. I said, i happen to know it is not confidential because i work for the Washington Post and we get our stories from you guys. It turned out he was voted down and nancy, the only republican, voted against him, because she had heard my story. Another, without my experience and background, she did not know better and talk to the fbi. Of course, they subpoenaed her and she ended up on capitol hill, and her life was ruined. I could have been a need a hill anita hill. Her life was ruined, and she is now a punchline. Forgetting that she is a distinguished lawyer. A producer hired me to be the flipperd in the movie , about the dolphin. He said, but you will have to sleep with me if you want the part. I said, i will have to ask my father. I did not get a call back. Minutes sentof 60 me to london to cover princess and annes wedding. He took me to my room one night and threw me on the bed. I never toldries right away. Myn i did write a book about experience. But i never told the john tower story. Gretchen why . Sally i was ashamed because i thought i should not have agreed to have lunch with him i was 19. I should not have agreed to go dinner. When he dragged me across the street to the nightclub, i should not have known. Somehow i shouldve kept him out of the cap, it was my fault. Gretchen we blame ourselves. Andy i still feel that, the same way about the producer of 60 minutes. What was i thinking . He was going to help me be a big star. I had no experience. I should have known, that it was my fault that i led him on. Gretchen but it was not. Sally the john tower thing, i still feel ashamed, even to this day. How do women get over the shame of thinking we all want to look attractive. I want to look sexy when i go out at night and dress up and do my hair and makeup, and want people to think i am attractive. Where is the moment when you cross the line . When you are coming on or asking for it, as opposed to wanting to be an attractive woman . Gretchen i do not think women are ever asking to be assaulted. What i say in the book, you can be wearing a short skirt, hospital scrubs, or army fatigues, it does not matter. And you should not feel any shame, no woman should. Shame is a potent force. Sally how do they get over the shame part of it . Gretchen we talk about it. I have even seen some people say on twitter, Gwyneth Paltrow did not come forward right away, so we should discount what she is saying now. No. No, because this is how it starts. We should never shame a woman who comes forward at all, i do not care when, ever. Even ifd then realize, these episodes happened 30, 40 years ago, i do not care when it happened. As long as you come forward, you encourage other women to come forward when it is happening to them now. That is how it works. It is a shame of inspiration. One woman at a time, we bolster courage. Courage is not something you one day wake up with and say, i will do a monumental thing. It is a process of time, not a light switch. That is one of the greatest myths i have seen on social media. Why did you wait so long . Why did you wait until it was all over . That is such a naive and ignorant question. You dont realize where women are still in society. We are labeled troublemakers, you cant take a joke, we are still the bword, we are still not believed. The best one, we bring all these es forward because sally like anita hill. Gretchen i have never met any of the women i had spoken to, that was the reason for coming forward. Sally for me, it was over 40 years ago with the john tower thing over 50 years ago. I never told the story until last year. Women. T of thousands of i started telling the story and thought i was going to lose it. I almost started to cry because i had never told that story before. At this point in my life. I waitedmagine so long to tell that story. Does that make it less legitimate because i waited that long . Gretchen no. It is ashamed, you dont want to talk about it, you somehow feel embarrassed, it is your fault, you dont want to bring that attention on yourself, dont want people to think you are a troublemaker, a complainer. But i agree with you. The idea of people talking about it when it happens and telling feminist point of view is, and i agree with this, if you say it happens, it happened. It should be done. However, this it there is this other side of the story. It happens occasionally on College Campuses. And that is, what if somebody is falsely accused . This is an issue that we cannot pretend is not exist. I happen to know this because a close friend of mines son was one of the boys at Duke University they got thrown out for harassing this woman, it turned out she had made up the whole story and lied. But his life was ruined, he was thrown out of college. I have a lot of friends of mine you have sons in college to basically say, you have to keep a stack of permission slips on your bedside table with a pen and make sure women will sign it if they will have sex with you. How do protect your sons . You talk a lot in your book about about your children and how to protect them and make sure boys understand what the rules are. And how far you can go and what you can do. But there is another side to that. Sometimes the boys are innocent. When you talkses about men sexually harassing women, particularly in the workplace, it is a different situation. Gretchen totally different. I acknowledge in the book, there are false accusations. However, it is a very small percentage. Five women will be assaulted on a College Campus. It is one of the reasons i am doing a College Campus tour with the book. Kids young, to form and shape their opinions. One expert told me, if you start trying to change the way men perceive women in their 40s and 50s, forget it, it is too late. The main mission for me now is to get to the kids at a young age, so they are building perceptions and respect for women while they are growing up. I do a whole chapter on parenting, too. I have worked more for my son than for my daughter because i want him when he gets to the workforce in 12 years or so, i want them to look at his female colleagues and respect them with the same way he looks at me now and respect me. My kids were the most important decision in what i decided to do. When i jumped off a cliff, the cliff, the only thing i thought about, was how will my kids be . The biggest decision. I would not have done it if i thought it would have harmed my children. In the end, how could i have ever known how any day would be after that day, with no safety net . But i have now seen my children get that gift of kurds themselves. Whoifically in my daughter, was looking for courage in certain aspects of her life. When she went to school on the first day of that summer, the first day my resolution was announced, i was anxious for her. From school and said, a lot of people were asking what happened to you. She said mom, i was so proud to be able to say you are my mom. Sally what was the Tipping Point for you . You put up with it and put up with it. Youmost insidious part was, were getting higher ratings than anybody else, doing these incredible interviews, you were obviously a hard worker at the top of your game. And yet they started lowering your salary and taking your show away from you, and moving you into a different timeslot, and taking the interviews away from you. Was there a moment where you , i wontm mad as hell take it anymore . Gretchen first of all, thank you for acknowledging all of that. It is a very lonely experience. I thank you for giving me that credit. When i finally realized what i had worked so hard for, more than 25 years toward, when i realized that would come to an end for me, i realized i had to do this, not so much for myself, but for any other women that would come after me. And i want to the next generation to not have to face the same indignities i had. That was really what it was. Seeing that what id worked so hard for was going away. Sally was it gradual . I know sometimes when i make decisions, i am all over for a then iriod of time and will think, i am going to do this or i cant take this anymore. Talkhen i cant specifically about all my emotions over the years, but in ineral terms, for women, often think we are so used to working extra hard, that we feel we can change the dynamic if we just work a little more hard. You keep hoping they will finally see you for who you really are. I often think actually that stronger women are worse victims because of that. We are so used to banging our head against a brick hall to get ahead and persevere against all odds, that we keep fighting instead of saying something. That is the dynamic that needs to change. Sally it mustve been humiliating for you. What about your colleagues at fox . Didnt people say, hmm, i wonder why gretchen just lost the show that had the highest ratings on television . I dont get it. Gretchen you find out who your friends are. Sally how did that happen . Were you disappointed in some of your friends, surprised that the sort support you got . Gretchen i cannot talk about the people at fox. Sally i know you cant talk about it. But in terms of how people in general behaved when they saw what was happening to you. Gretchen it was really fascinating. I heard from people i had never heard from in 30 years that i never expected to hear from. That was amazing. Sally supportive . Gretchen yes. Some of my neighbors never reached out to me. Some people came up to me after time had passed and said, we just did not want to trouble you or bother you, we did not know what to say. Sometimes that happens when people died. People sign a sympathy card with just their name. My father had always said to me, when you send a card you always should send up memories of the person, because that is what people want to see, not your name. Sally it was a little death. Gretchen but it is not the same. Same inomenon is the the sense people do not know what to say to you, so they say nothing. Sally you do go through the stages of grief. Gretchen and ptsd. Which is what you are talking about, you are still experiencing. Guess what, 25 years later, i saw him walking down the hallways of my place of employment and i panicked. I ran up, slammed my office door, i started sweating, shaking. This guy was not going to come to my office and put my head back in his crotch. But this is what happens to you. 30 years ago for you, 25 years ago for me, you do not forget that moment of sheer panic and being out of control and someone violating you. Courage toup the look in the hallway to see if he was still there and ran as fast as i could to the elevator. Sally do you think he even remembered it . Gretchen probably not, if he was doing it all the time. It is normalizing it within the culture. Which brings us back to enablers, white is so important for people within companies to say, that is not acceptable, what you just did. Imagine if billy bush had said that in the donald trump tape, i am not going to stand for this, mr. Trump, i do not talk that way to women. You see, if somebody would just do that sally there was no way he would have done that. He was a young guy trying to get ahead and donald trump is donald trump. Gretchen but now i think that is going to start happening, i really do. Especially with our younger people. I want to see that their hard work pays off in a good way, that i could see the end result. And i believe that our younger people especially want to get rid of this indignity, i really do. With more and more women coming forward, it is so empowering to women of all ages, but especially our young women just coming into the workforce. They are seeing what happens when other women are speaking up and seeing that they have a voice. Sally when you look at letsns and you see start with jack kennedy. My husband was a very close friend of jack kennedys, he and his wife were. They would be at the white house two or three nights a week. He swears my husband was in bradley, editor of the Washington Post swears he never heard any of the rumors about kennedy because the four of them were close friends. It was not something that came up, so he did not know about it. Later when he started reading all of these stories, he was really shocked. And then kennedy was killed. Shocked and disappointed, then the story came out about the woman he had had an affair with in the white house and she was 21 and he had forced her to have the White House Pool with several of the white house staffers. Here is this person who is revered all over the world by and he was this extraordinary man, there is no question about it. But he was a predator of the worst kind. Gretchen so that makes him not an extraordinary man. Clintonnd you have bill. First to standhe up and say, if she said it happened, it happened. Allenly with bill clinton, the women were liars, it did not happen. And he was a predator. Then you have donald trump. Bill clinton is still revered. Who is soonald trump, blatantly out there with this, he even talks about it openly. In fact, while he is married, coming on to women like with the People Magazine reporter. The majority of people in this country he was elected president , despite that. And the people who were interviewed said, that his locker room talk. Melania said, that is just boy talk. Gretchen it is not. Sally it is not boy talk, locker room talk. I do not know any man who talks that way, i dont. At least, i do not think i do. I have not been in a locker room lately. The point is, he is revered by many people in this country and they do not seem to care about that. What do you do about changing the culture, in the sense that people will look at donald trump and say simply, that is not acceptable . In anybody, but particularly the president of the United States. Is that with the mothers of supporters are saying to their little boys . This is the president , he can do what he wants to do, so so can you . Gretchen it is a terrible example for our children. Sally what do you do . Gretchen the way i handled that personally, i showed my children that tape. Because i thought it was a teachable moment for them. I know that millions of other parents across the country were grappling with what the heck to do with that. I wrote a New York Times oped about that after he was arrested ad said, to me, i do not give damn about any policy you are trying to pass or what party you belong to. To me, human decency supersedes all of that. Whathat tape showed me human decency was not. And that is what i shared with my children. Sally did they understand what he was talking about . Gretchen yes. Did i want to show it to them . No. But i thought it was imperative. Whether or not people think that tax policy or immigration policy or any of that is more important than human decency, that is why we live in a free country and they can vote for whomever they want to. That those comments have set a spectrum radically. Back dramatically. But i am optimistic because of the stories coming out. What is happening now with weinstein, will it make other women and men look at this and say, this is enough . This has gone on too long, we cannot do this anymore. It is so recent. Gretchen i see it. A huge part of the equation, i have a chapter dedicated to this, men who defend. Gretchen sally i was sally i was about to get to that. Who were the men fighting with you . I read George Clooney had said something about Harvey Weinstein. Gretchen the men in my book range from journalist to men who have made this their life mission, to go into companies and teach them to be more equitable with women and treat them with more respect. There are tons of men out there doing more work for women. Here is why it is crucial. The responsibility of fixing this problem should not only be on the shoulders of women. It is not only our responsibility to make the workplace safer for us. It is more of a mans issue than a womans issue. We need these men on our side to make change. As long as we still have 94 of fortune 500 Companies Run by men, we especially need them on our side in the way they pay us, promote us, decide whether or not we get a seat in the boardroom, and may or may not sexually harass us. Voices are critical to making change. That is why i feel, even though it has been a couple days, to seamen come out and say what they have been saying, we must support these women and we must stop enabling this, that is huge. It is a cascading effect. On they believe were precipice of a major change with regard to this issue. Weinsteinhink harvey may have been the Tipping Point. It was just so egregious and had been going on so long and kept quiet for so long, and then suddenly, it defies the imagination that this could have been happening in this day and age and that people were accepting this and enabling this. Think ine things i terms of fighting this, it creates an atmosphere of the creep factor. What Hillary Clinton was talking about, donald trump hovering around her during the debate. She said, i wondered if i should say, just get away from me, you creep. Because he was a great. Only a creep would say what he said at this Hollywood Tape. On the access Hollywood Tape. It is like smoking. Now you think,t that poor guy is addicted, he is weak. For a get cancer man to shove a womans face in , i am going to tell everyone what a creep you are. Even if they did not realize it was wrong or did not care or felt entitled, that they would be so terrified of being called a creep i think maybe i kept in my imagination, i was getting angry and thought, we ought to have, every newspaper ought to have the creep of the week. [laughter] that idea, bute think youre smoking analogy is a really good one. Mind if i use it . Sally it is all yours, you can also have the creep of the week. Gretchen great analogy. Now is look at smoking think him a why is that person smoking . I am going to use that as my barometer for this issue of Sexual Harassment and i will hope that in the next few years or 10 years or 20 years, that is the way in which we will be looking at it. Sally there was a powerful guy wellknown for putting his hand on womens thighs under the dinner table at fancy washington table dinners. He never did anything more than that, and it was creepy and embarrassing, but it was kind of like, you are in the middle of a blacktie dinner, candles and Everything Else and the guy puts his hand on your thigh, and you dont know whether to say, cut it out it would have been so shocking. It was kind of a joke. But i cant look at this guy and not think about that. Gretchen so tell him. Here is where i see hope. Look at somebody like taylor swift. She is in her 20s. Do you think she wanted to take time off for her world tour to testify in a Sexual Harassment groping case . Probably not, but i am so glad she did. She is sending a message, especially to young women, that she will not take that crap. She is a person standing up and saying, get your hand off my thigh, how dare you group grope my butt. That also played into this narrative of how we got off to this Tipping Point. If i jump off the cliff, then susan fowler came out it uber, and more people it silicon valley, then you had the sterling jewelry case, then taylor swift and now you have Harvey Weinstein. Look at how far we have come in just 15 months. Sally here is the question sally in terms of getting are twostop there issues. To do itwill be scared because they will be called out and humiliated and people will think they are creeps. How do youhing is, get them to become decent human beings . How do you get them to realize this is not decent behavior . By the way, some of these people are evangelicals and christians and religious people who tolerate it the most. You mention it briefly in the book. Gretchen there is a horrific story in the book. Sally and this is not an unusual story among religious congregations. A Sexual Harassment situation in the catholic church. People wont commit crime because they are afraid theyll get caught, but only because they are afraid they will get caught. These guys may only not do it because they are afraid they will get caught. How do you get them to realize this is wrong . Gretchen it goes back to our original point of how we raise them. Sally the mothers and the fathers. Gretchen whatever the family dynamic is, singleparent, partners together. Kids see and hear everything. I found myself over the last 15 months reevaluating how i am parenting and exactly what im saying. What is my dynamic with my husband . Because that is what they are seeing on a daily basis. They are getting cues from that. But also our schools. Why did a study come out that when fiveyearold little girls when they heard something smart, said it could be a man or a woman. But by the time they were six or seven, were not sure he could be a woman . What happens between ages five and six . They go to school. What are these subtle cues at school that make women feel less than boys . It is crucial. Sally you had one line in your book your daughter said mom, you should be president of the United States. Said when i was married to ben bradley, of the Washington Post, he said, mom, you should be president of the United States. [laughter] sally i read that when you said that. Something must have been going on in the family dynamics. Ben was a tough guy. Gretchen i love to hear that. To finish that story, she was in the car and said, why cant you decide to run today . I said, it is a little more complicated than that. Tonically, i have been asked run for Political Office since this story unfolded. It is not out of the cards for me, never say never. You had one statistic that blew me away. In the workplace are raped or sexually assaulted every year. Cannot possibly be true . Gretchen it is more than that. 70 of people do not come forward. This is an epidemic. Shocking howgly much this is happening in our culture. Three women accusing President Trump of Sexual Misconduct spoke with the press earlier this month in washington. Stories aboutr their encounters with mr. Trump and called on congress to investigate the allegations. Hello, my name is samantha holdey. Watchittle girl, i would the miss usa pageant every year and dream of being one of those beautiful, successful, incredibly confident women. These dreams never included a man lining us all up to look this over like we were pieces of meat, these dreams never included a man coming into the backstage hair and makeup area while i sat naked under a robe as he walked around looking at us like we were his property before he moved into the dressing room. And these dreams certainly never included this same man becoming president of the United States. I have a new dream now. That this man will be held accountable for his actions, and that future generations of women can fulfill their dreams without worry of anyone treating them like they are less than because they are a woman. Thank you. Five stewart to go next . Sure. Good morning. Crook. Is rachel i think you are all familiar with my story. Is he going receptionist and trump tower, i was forcibly kissed by mr. Trump during our first introduction. He repeatedly kissed my cheek and then my lips and it has followed me. It has incurred feelings of the insignificant and self doubt. Friends of my employers, and owner of the building. There was nothing i could do. Given the toxic work environment, my only solution was to avoid future encounters with him. I realize there are far worse is cases. No acceptable level of such behavior. That some men think they can use our power and position into notoriety to demean and attack women speaks to their character, not ours. A tough lesson learned. I knew was not my fault when i read the account of sople taggart, whose story mirrored my own that somehow it i hade my own image that somehow projected a target. It was wrong on the part of mr. Trump. Not type of behavior is rare. People of all backgrounds can be victims. Im here because this offender is now the president of our country. I promise you i wouldve much rather gain Public Interest by something great i accomplished rather than by, in this case, something quite negative. I shared my story because it was relevant. Mr. Trump dismissed his words on the access Hollywood Tape as knewr room talk at i better. I decided to let mine counter with him be known as on his various others. Stories seem to fall on deaf ears. Recently the me too movement has gained momentum and women have found strength and the courage to come forward, leaving many powerful men to face their actions. Donald trump has remained unscathed although about a dozen women have come forward regarding his Sexual Misconduct and we have video proof of him conducting this hater. A person with this record would usually have entered the politicalof aspirations, yet here we are with that man as president. I want to believe that we can put aside our political inclinations and admit some and wetranscend politics will hold up mr. Trump to the same standard we hold mr. Weinstein and the other men. I ask congress to put aside their Party Affiliations and investigate mr. Trumps history of Sexual Misconduct. Thank you. I am the Senior Member of this group. My story goes way. It was on an airplane. Three years later i remembered him, we ran into each other. He remembered me. Years later, i come to realize that he is seriously running for mysident and i start telling story. 30 years had lapsed, at least. But i told everybody. I told my friends, neighbors, y,k club, the ladies at the anybody and everybody that i could. You know what kind of person trump is . This man running for president . Let me tell you kind of man this is. So obviously, when the Hollywood Tape came out and then that debate happened, i got so angry i wrote aey did a video and they did story. Never in a million years did i ever think that one day i would open up my door and pick up my newspaper and find my picture on the front page. Whattory was as simple as i just explain. An encounter on an airplane in a behaviornappropriate on his part. So then, there was a kind of a scrum with the media as i call and he the election came won. Yet, i was absolutely destroyed. By, i figured the United States is a big, strong country. We can survive this person. Of a yearg the course i kept hearing from people who had come up to me on the street, in the subway, at the library, at the grocery store, at the airport one time, in the swimming full. All people. Everybody had a story. Everybody had some experience of beingvulnerable and attacked. And, i thought things had gotten better for women in business but apparently i was wrong. Then the anniversary came of his election, there was some renewed interest by the media as to what i thought he had all that. And the weinstein story had it was like an explosion in a shingle factory. Things were flying all over the place. It became apparent that in some areas, the accusations of sexual aggression were being taken seriously and people were being accountable. Except for our president. He was not being held accountable. An fact, his stuff made a big point of calling us all liars. So, we are at the position now where, in some areas of our society, people are being held accountable for unwanted behavior. But, were not holding our president accountable for what he is and who he is. So, i would like to see this movement. I think the me too movement is fascinating and i hope that includes more movements and we get a change that we should see. Nd we all have to hope to i. Thank you for sharing your stories. Well take some questions from the media. Location. Ame and from the Washington Post. You talked quite a bit about the me too movement. Im curious about your next step send what you hope to achieve in the coming weeks and months addressing the concerns you have raised so bravely. Thank you so much for speaking out about those. Because im not im too old to have any working knowledge of how the internet works, so i dont i dont know exactly how this me going. Vement is im just hoping it continues forward and grows. It is like the womans march in january after the election, it wasas incredible and worldwide. So, i am hoping that this will come forward. Pressure onnough congress to produce enough pressure on congress to address is not through their own members but directly through the president. Will you be trying to push this point forward . If asked. Outs not like were running with banners. I do not think any of us, none of us want this attention. None of us are comfortable with this. I mean, if we had been comfortable with being a star we would have done Something Else with our lives. That this is important, so when asked, we speak out. Thank you very much. I am would need a young from reuters. I am bonita young from reuters. And if not,mmittees what specifically do you want to happen . They have investigated other congress members, so i think it only stands fair that he be investigated as well. I think also, a nonpartisan investigation is very important. Not just for him, but for anybody who has allegations against him. This is not a partisan issue. This is how women are treated every day. This is not a partisan issue. Sam would just echoed what said. I mean, i think if they were willing to investigate senator franken i think it is only fair that they did the same for trump. Hello. Tomorrow fox news. Did the allegations of the president give you hope and do you think that is sure path to getting justice . You know, i was asked that on my interview with cnn last year. What am i going to sue him for . Being really creepy . That is not something that would stand up in court. I am more concerned about as a culture in our country, what is acceptable behavior and if the standards that our president is setting, it is not high enough right now. Right. I mean, the court of Public Opinion would be the best lace i think in my opinion for this to be judged. Like you said, it is a cultural thing and we should not let politicians get away with this. In my situation, it is so old that i do not even think a judge would even enter into any sort of case on it. And then, i dont have any thoughts of going to the courts for this. This is really a matter of we have to deal with the public and we have to deal with attitudes and changing a cultural phenomenon here, so its i dont think the court is a place to go. Question hello. Ellison with cnn. Jessica, this is with you. When you had the episode with mr. Trump and the airplane, can you give us some details as to what happened and what happened three years later. Tells about some he those encounters. Jessica i was a traveling sales rep for a paper company. At that time, there were very few women traveling business. I was on this plane. I cannot remember if it was dallas or atlanta, but going back to new york. And, the stewardess came down the aisle and asked me what i like to come up to first class. And, this had happened before. I had been invited up to first class several times. I sat next to some really interesting people like george steinbrenner, ralph nader, various ceos of companies. It was not unusual. Income of the food was so much better in first class. And, the food was so much better in the first class. So i went up, this gentleman was right up against the window. He introduced himself as donald trump. I did not work out of new york city so i did not have any awareness of the trump name or the trump business or donald trump. So, we had dinner. They served the dinner. Cleared the dinner. At about that time, he jumped all over me. Income he grabbed me and was trying to kiss me and everything. He did not say anything and i certainly do not say anything. I did not yell or ask for help. I remember one point looking over at one point looking over the guy sitting across the isle in thinking, well, why does he not come to my aid . I wondered where in the hell the stewardess was. Then he put his hand up my skirt. That was the last time i wore a traveling. Then, i manage because im not a small person i managed to wrestle myself out of the seat and i stood up, grabbed my purse, and went to the back of the airplane and sat back there until the plane landed. Let the plane deplane, all of the people got up before i left because i did not want to run into him again. Fast forward three years. New yorkliving in city. In, i go to work for the Humane Society on 59th street and they are going to have this big, fancy fundraising gala at sex this avenue. At saks fifth avenue. They asked me to man the table distribution. I go in it is absolutely a new york scene. I got to meet all of the designers. Various and sundry people, because the Humane Society is a charity was very very interested in inviting all of the celebrities in town and that is when i became aware that donald trump was the donald trump of the trump family of new york city and i recognizes picture. I recognized him. People remember when they are assaulted. They remember when, where, why, what they had on, how they got out of it, they remember everything. Even if it happened when they were eightyearsold. Chitsm handing out the for the tables and outcomes donald trump at that time, his wife ivana. Of honor, right . And ivana was very pregnant. Ticket and i am thinking the back of my mind, yet, that is the guy. Income he looks at me and he says i remember you. You are the woman from the airplane. Only he used another term before woman. And it cleared the room. It absolutely cleared the room. He went on. I went home. That was the end of the story. That was 1983 . 2016, when i realized that he was really serious about running for president i started telling my story to everybody. I said, let me tiny what kind of a person this donald trump is. Me tell you what kind person this donald trump is. I told everybody i could get to sit down. I told my family, friends, neighbors come told everybody. Some people do not believe me which i understand completely because it was so long ago. But, i wanted to get it out. And then the debate happened. In a he lied about it. And also the hollywood bus tapes was sot and i just infuriated that i wrote a letter methe editor and they called and i thought i am going to get it published. This is really super. But no, they sent overreporting. They asked for the people that i told over the years. Them, confirmed the story. Then they wrote it up. That is really what happened. Tarana burke is an activist to started the movement called me too more than a decade ago. The goal being to raise awareness about harassment and abuse. She spoke earlier this month at a conference called women role in washington. It begins with a video about the me too movement. Thousands of women are using social media to identify themselves as victims of Sexual Harassment. Me too. Me too. Announcer within 24 hours, onre have been many tweets the internet and on twitter. I have been might life has been centered around justice. I have for the past probably 15 years been really focused on women and girls of color. Weing the work was when realized that the girls we were king with foreign counting were encountering Sexual Violence in various ways. With sexualwas violence. It had happened to her. Exit was repeated. She was telling her story was repeated. She was telling a story like mine. Similar to my life. I was scared. I did not know. I ended up sending her to another counselor who could handle what she had to say. Figure out how to get her out of the home or whatever but i did not tell her anything. I have over the years written letters. Apologizing because it just feels like the worst that you could do to someone as someone committed to getting people. My partner and i decided when had to take a step back and figure out what to do. We were both survivors. So, me too came from this idea that we had to do this. So we started doing this work. Libraries, churches, schools, empowerment, empathy is the way that we describe. It is an exchange of empathy between survivors. I think when i became a daughter and had a i wanted her to live in a world that recognized her and saw her and the knowledge to her power. Want her toworld i live in. You can say you are not alone, youre not alone, youre not alone, as much as you want it what we have generated from this movement is special. Discernible] this is not about predators, it is not about individual people. Racquetball. Aying after a while it is likely to this one, that when, oh my god i cannot believe this beloved person it is like there is a system in place that allows Sexual Violence to flourish and if we do not change our conversation to talk about patriarchy and predatory is, we will have more competition. Welcomer please politico reporter richard spade. Please welcome tarana, the founder of the me too campaign. [cheers and applause] oh well. Yall. [laughter] to i. First off, thank you for being here and sharing your story today. Covering Sexual Harassment from a capitol hill standpoint ever since the Harvey Weinstein video. I was stunned that you founded me to way back in 2006 on a myspace page, ok . So, tell me, why do you think it took more than a decade for this to catch on and take us inside the day when that went totally viral. It has been more than a decade. People dont like to talk about this issue. People dont want to amplify these discussions. Those of us who work in Sexual Violence talk to each other, work hard, we are in our communities trying to amplify but it is not a popular issue. I thought it was worth working with black and brown girls in the south. Have the lightto of popculture shine on it before people would pay attention. In some ways i am very grateful because now we have a National Conversation with never had before. But i definitely did not foresee this when we started doing this work in 2006. There is no such thing as viral. I dont even think twitter was started yet. Was not the vision. But we did have a vision to have something that people could connect to that was simple, that showed an exchange of empathy said that people really connected with each other, right . It is easy for people to say if they tell their story of any trauma, oh my god i am so side that happened to you. Although that persons wellmeaning and once you to feel comfortable, there is sort of distance there between you and him. Them. It is something that happened e. U. , not me. The difference is when somebody shares something that is the most romantic thing that happened to them in at the end of that you can say, he yeah, me too. Itleast for the two of you, it frees you. It is a liberation that you cannot trade for anything else in the world. There is no money that can help you have that feeling of having a connection with somebody that says, my god i am not alone. Im not crazy. I am not an anomaly. Im not some weirdo. This is a feeling that is real and genuine. Into that day. S tarana sunday morning i started having notifications on my phone. Not a lot, just a few going off. Friends at me a message to that, is something happening . What is happening on twitter. I said nothing in particular. She said, you need to go online. There are people talking about me too. I said ok. I had like, videos out. So when i went to look at twitter and was like, it was not viral yet but there were an awful lot of post. Versailles kind of pen and. Post just like, this is weird. I do the work in a very specific way for a very specific audience and that was not the audience i was saying. And i also tackle Sexual Harassment in the workplace, and late afternoonhe i was more panicked about the idea that there was massive disclosure happening in such a public way because while me too is obviously about people disclosing and telling their stories, i was worried about bigle not it is a very deal. I think we lose the idea that social media is the world. Would you put it out there, it is in the world, right . I was like, what these people can and do . Does a wave of emotions that happened after you disclose of things so personal. I need to figure out how to insert myself in the conversation to give context. This not just words. As the declaration of disclosure that has impact, right . Thatwanted to introduce into the conversation and i was fortunate enough that these women who are, you know, i am a writer as well and there was a bunch of, you know, create a network of people or do social justice work over the last 2020 five years and they immediately and they know my work so they came and they said we need to amplify your work so people understand what this is about. Disclosure,aking of from my standpoint on the hill there is a fee or even now of coming forward that they would be blackballed, not be able get a job. Theres a sense that this has not reached washington politics. Why do you think that me to has not quite hit the political arena and the way it has had spread across the country. Tarana i think it has hit a lot of arenas. We need to be clear, the attention is great. Glitz, the glam, i could go on television and talk about a lot of things but my talking in front of you does not protect a woman right now who is at her job, fearful she could get fired from cover you know, her boss, whether it is capitol hill or wherever. We wouldple can us happen after this moment and i am like, this is a movement. Movements are built over time. They are strategic, methodical. For me, this moment is a triumph in the overall movement and i think we should celebrate the triumph and remember there is a lot of work that has to change. Policies, groundwork that has to happen. That is my commitment to the work. Like, i love being here, i love talking to people and getting the message out but i have like, a lot of work to do. And part of that is because it has not reached everywhere now that we have this sort of spotlight, think the very next thing we have to do is amplify this conversation and represent those people wherever they are. Rachael what would you say that me too has taught you about networks of women. Tarana listen, women. Lets talk about women. [laughter] tarana i love thing a woman, lumping a black woman. We are always at the forefront regardless if there is a camera there are not. Payinge are other people attention, we are there doing the work. This woman moment would not happen without women, no question. We encourage the women who came forward. We encourage them women who have not come forward. A survivor of Sexual Violence, the thing that happens is that your choices taken way, right . Youre right to choose, your ptolemy is taken away. The choices a choice. So even if you choose not to disclose, it is a choice. As a powerful choice people should not and hold onto. I get caught up with people say, i really want to but i am scared. I say, dont. Hold on to that choice. I think what this moment has done is given choice to women in ways that we have not seen in a long time, right . Back to choose whether you disclose or dont, standup, dont, support, or dont. The short choice. Rachael right. ]applause rachael were almost out of time but i want to talk to you about the young girl live video who inspired all of this. You said you write letters to her in your head and i want to know, have you ever found her, has she ever reached out to you, have you reached out to her . Would she say to you, what would she say to you . Ia i would like to say have not found her. 10an that camp for almost years. She only came that one summer. A couple things i realize in this moment, i was 22yearsold. And think about it i think of myself as an adult who is a child who did not help that child but i was 22, awfully young. I have a 20yearold daughter who, you know, is a baby to be. I would say to her, i would think i would apologize for not being who and what she needed me to be in that moment but she is probably about 34 years old now, target three years older 34 years old and i imagine life has probably given her some lessons, too, when you cannot show up when you want to. I would also like her to know that her at that moment helped me to be able to try to show up every time i get an opportunity to do so. You also spoken this video about how Sexual Harassment requires systemic change. Well talk more about that on the next panel. Everybody give up around of applause. [applause] announcer the earlier this year, the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel held a hearing looking at Sexual Misconduct at military academies. Included testimony from four young women who had experienced sexual a brass sexual abuse and harassment. Ranking member Jackie Speier of california. You can watch the whole of this hearing at our website at cspan. Org. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. This is an issue that i care deeply about. Sexual assault in our military and military Service Academies is a scourge on our nation. We depend on our academies to develop and attract our nations future leaders. When Sexual Assault occurs people, even one is too many. We all know these assaults are far more than that. Both women and men are victimized by Sexual Assault and harassment at the Service Academies, creating it toxic culture that follows these students straight into military leadership. Survivors often leave the academy under their own volitional or are forced out, depriving our military of future leaders. Perpetrators of these heinous acts often go unpunished, graduate, reinforcing this criminal and abhorrent behavior. This emboldens them to assault their fellow servicemembers as they ascend up the ranks. In order to break the cycle, we need strong reform to make clear that this behavior is not tolerated. In fact, the only result in cases like this should be dismissal. Military leadership for literally decades has testified that they are of one mind. Tolerancehave zero for Sexual Assault. The tens of thousands of survivors of these acts, ineptitude of chain of command, makes a mockery of this stated policy. Words. Lone are just if we have any hope of stamping out the systemic issue of Sexual Assault in our ranks, the tone must be set at the academies. This is not just about right and wrong, but being able to attract the very best to serve and have cohesion within our fighting force. Nothing short of the future of our military depends upon us right. This the department of defense and the report on Sexual Assault on Service Academies show a complete failure in adjusting this epidemic. 12 of women in the academies experience Sexual Assault. 12 percent. And, nearly one half, one half, face persistent Sexual Harassment. Is disgusting. S in 2014, last report fewer students have reported Sexual Assault and harassment by the estimated rates of Sexual Misconduct have increase. Both of these are trending in the wrong direction. One reason could be the ostracism of Sexual Assault victims. 47 of those who reported the unwanted sexual contact experienced social isolation and maltreatment. To foster an environment in which students have been Sexual Assaulted or harassed feel like they can come forward without fear of retaliation. Hear from ouro second Panel Witnesses on steps they are taken to reverse these we caning trends so that bring about leaders who bring a culture of respect and dignity to their service. I want to welcome the courageous survivors for testifying on our first panel. Attended the United States Naval Academy from 20092011. Another currently attends the u. S. Naval academy. And the others are former cadets at the u. S. Military academy at west point. Some of the stories you will hear today are heartbreaking and revolting. These cadets and midshipmen did nothing wrong by reporting their assaults and yet their chain of command failed them. And, the chain of command that was supposed to actually protect them failed. We cannot tolerate this lack of accountability in our countrys most pretty just military institution. I look forward to hearing the testimony today and i yelled back. To eye. I am here as an infant thank you. Im here as an independent person and do not represent the academy. I experienced unwanted sexual contact. I filed an unrestricted report about the incident. To the office. I was overwhelmed by the support staffhing i faculty and at the Naval Academy. In the fall of 2016, the individual is no longer a midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. The whole process was difficult. But im confident in saying the resources that were and still are provided to me helped me through the healing process to the state. Thank you. Ms. Bullard. Your comments. Hello. A former student of the United States military academy. I attended west point from 2013 until i was honorably discharged in 2015 when i went on to attend ohio state university. I would like to thank congresswoman spare for having me here. The day i was discharged from the hospital suffering from stress induced high Blood Pressure i found all my belongings had been packed without my knowledge. I was left with a pair of shorts, jacket, and sandals for my return home to india. I was escorted onto the plane by id, it wasause my shipped off of my belongings. As soon as i was boarded on the plane i was told the captain who was retaliating against me wanted to see me. He asked me if i wanted to return to the mattel. I replied i wanted to stay but was confused by what he meant as to pay forney clothing. He hung up and took my answer is a no. But i landed i received a call from sue fulton on the board of visitors from west point asking why there was a note asking me if i wanted to stay to the academy. I realize then why i received a convoluted call from the captain. If i had known, my answer wouldve been yes. Despite what happened to me, i would rather stayed then be forced out. I was recruited to be part of the swim team where i consistently experienced racial and Sexual Harassment. Jangoboyfriend was called referring to the movie jango in chains. I was told nicknames were a tradition on the mens team. The swim tame members made lewd body, how my my bathing suit fit, and made remarks about having sex with me. A team is supposed to be a group of individuals with a set of skills required to complete the task. Swimre not able to together, how are we supposed to fight together to defend this country . The head coach further when on to punish me by forcing me to practice alone for two weeks at theour biggest meet patriot league. Then the next decided to take it himself to make sure is properly trained. I had to practice an hour before the rest of the team and was ostracize them because they thought i was getting special attention. Day, we won, and the navy academy shook my hand and said to tell the captain the army won this time. I never know longer felt a part of the army team. I tried to prove a point that no one could bring me down. We are taught in basic and in the army and in general to always protector battle buddies. Why was i left behind question why was i love behind . My case of Racial Discrimination was substantiated and i also that waseport substantiated as harassment but not Sexual Harassment. I then became friends with another cadet. During her second assault case, i was resident when a drunk today first into my room. His curfew rolled around, i had to return to my room thinking the cadet would take responsibility and they would move from. A few minutes later, someone called me hysterical and i went to her room and saw the distraught state she had bruises on her neck and chest. She told me she would never report again is no one would believe her. She had no faith she would be taken care. Still having trust in the system, i urged her to report. I told her we needed to do this for others after us. Even though i was left behind, i refused to do the same to her but the system failed once again as my friend and i were retaliated against repeatedly. Forbidden to accompany her to the hospital and was for a bit and to associate with her and forced to sign a confidentiality form saying i would not discuss her case with anyone. I was subject to arbitrary [indiscernible] in 2015, iphone i had no option to but to resign. Mine was expedited to one day. To my detriment. I collapsed in the barracks. I was admitted from the hospital suffering from high Blood Pressure from stress. When stephanie tried to visit me in the hospital, she was confronted by her command and told the only way she could remain in the hospital with me was if she admitted herself for psychiatric evaluation. The commands made clear out was being punished by being isolated in a time of fear and uncertainty. I wrote a defamation in january 2015 to general kaplan which all must read and sign. In the i i write, i do not want to be in a place that allows perpetrators to remain in the reichs. I dont live in double standards. West point honor code is by the cadets but some of the officers are not held to the same standards. I resign because it is all i can do, it is all i can do, to protect myself with these issues. I spoke with you before leaving point. T and that threehour discussion you told me he believed i would be a great leader and as such of the army but you did not want to sign my resignation. You had to be my resignation and i asked if there are being each age is state, you remained silent. And said, the numbers of reports have doubled since i left was fine. Two years ago Congress Asked why were here and the answer was to help the economy and prevent what happened was to other cadets. After two years, were back here again and the answer to the question has still not change. I hope we can come up with a solution that will mend a system that needs fixed for the sake of our future cadets and officers. With the support of candidate spear, i would like to return to help other debts. I take general kaplan at his word when he said to me i could be a great leader and officer in the United States military. Thank you. Thank you miss bullard. Hello. My name is stephanie gross, im a former can edit the United States military at academy. I like to thank congresswoman spears office for extending the institution invitation to testify today. I respect and admire the Training Program at west point for our nation future leaders. I internet 18 years old in 2016. I was honorably discharged on february 13, 2015. Over the two years, eight months, at being it was by no switch between companies four times compared to once for most at us. Because of this i had little stability of leadership during my time there and it contributed greatly to my difficulties. My first sexual result was reported in the spring of my freshman year. I was in the hospital recovering from an emergency public surgery that was found to be related to the assault. My surgeon advised me when he walked in he was unsure due to the inflammation of potential for scarring if i would ever be able to bear children. My restrictive report was initiated. I felt reporting would cause further damage emotionally and i asked if it could remain restricted without investigation. It was later reported by my commander as he became aware. The next day, they pressured me ir a name telling me that would comply if i had duty and honor. I resisted. At this time in 2013, there was not yet special victims of attorneys and i was without legal counsel. I feel like my case wouldve stayed restricted as i desired and interrogations wouldve been minimal. My report was determined to be unfounded. My second case was founded on the base of assault but the report concluded there was insufficient evidence to find the higher charges. The investigators refused to take my clothing for testing and refuse to test my assailant of the night of the incident. The newlyon of implemented special victims attorney was helpful in this case, though. I was subjected to many negative personnel actions with a pattern that suggested reprisal. Every time would initiate a report, a few days later i would receive a punishment. From drug testing to mental evaluations, room inspections, and insubordination was pressed against me. Was damaging to me academically after missing many courses for the investigation and i began to feel i had no other option but to leave the academy. I decided to ask for open door meetings hope and i can speak to my advisors in smaller settings to ask for their mentorship and determine why the relationships became so distorted. My entire chain of command denied me. I then asked the allude to it. I emailed you and desperation trust me to speak with you privately. You denied my request. Toecided to add context those grim blackandwhite words you decided to judge me by. Influence. Had i wanted to tell you i was sorry for the mistakes i did make and i looked up to as a leader. Even with those mistakes, i did not deserve to be treated the way i was. Agentr found from a dod that you said you cared greatly for misconduct and you instigated the chain of command to protect me in anyway you could. Unfortunately, i never heard these things. From my perspective, each time i reported in action i received a punishment. You confirmed misys missions i was not want to date your institution. If i had thought my chain of command truly cared about me, wouldve felt differently. It was the idea of the chain of command had given up on me that ultimately sealed my decision to leave the institution rather than serve my country. I do not blame west point. I blame the system of leadership that blames an individual they had never spoken to. I believe that the open door policy had been a reality and i was allowed to tell my story, and math unable to stay. A system of investigating assault that leaves great power in the hands of one individual or several individuals that are motivated by their own careers is not fair. [indiscernible] the soldiers creed, i am an american soldier. Im a loyal member of the team. I serve the members of the United States. I will always place the mission first, i will never quit. Leave a fall in. Later, i am disciplined and im a professional. These are the words that inspired me to continue even when i had nothing to gain and everything to lose. When i decided to report to help better the academy rather than follow advice to keep my head down and not say anything. These are the reasons i would also like to return to the academy and clean complete my time there because i believe actions speak louder than words. With the support of congresswoman spears office, ive decided to reapply for admission to the United States military academy to finish the education and training i began a 2012. I truly believe the military and west point have made positive strides to fix this problem. The Service Academies specifically should be role models for the nation and the world. Was part of a group of four individuals who are friends who reported Sexual Assault but at the committee. Out of the four of us, none remain. Deserves academies are the fundamentals for change for the future of the forces and there is much more work to be done. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Afternoon. 2008, i was recruited athlete inducted into the United States Naval Academy. Tyler to acceptance, my parents were concerned with my acceptance. During a campus visit, my parents and i were told by Naval Academy representative comment polluting my coaches and the Athletic Director that the Naval Academy did not have a Sexual Assault problem and i would be safe. Shortly after the Academic Year began, i experienced to horrible events. I was raped not only once, but twice. Both times my fellow classmates at the academy, i had to face them everyday. I begin to do. I went to the Naval Academy medical facility. During intake, told the training physician i had been raped. Did not ask when, where, simply check the box on my intake form and prescribed me an antidepressant. This set the tone for my remaining two years at the Naval Academy. The culture is that of a boysonly club where men are considered superior to women, women are repeatedly referred to dubs, dumb ugly bitches. Come i brokers down and was sent to bethesda hospital. I was diagnosed with bipolar personality disorder by a physicians assistant, not a licensed medical doctor. I felt like a fica get out of my company i would be ok. I made a request every semester to transfer to my Company Commander who refuse to transfer me. [indiscernible] upon discussing my situation with the commandant, he told me to grow up and within days begin the separation buses. In july 2011, and a democrat review board was called which was unusual given my overall good academic record. Members of the board openly discussed my sensitive personal medical records, all of which without my consent and in the and use my past medical treatments as a basis for my separation. The academy found it easier to label me as having a personality disorder than to treatment for the trauma of being raped. Behind leave no men do not apply to the men and women who are raped. They are quite frequently intentionally left behind to deal with the continued stress and anguish. The navy continues to defend the evergrown claims of military and Sexual Assault as small and that those men who reported being raped were mentally ill. How shameful. Military leaders then and now defend the growth rate of being good saying they are glad to hear that women are coming forward to report rape. What they do not seem to get is that more rape is bad and they continue to not address the root cause. Theres a small but active group of rapists whose crimes are rarely investigated, let alone prosecute. The military finds it easier to destroy the lives of the victims. The word is out, if you are rapists go into the military where you will be protected after you wait somebody. Rape somebody. Victims who see the treatment of those before them such as myself are not likely to come forward like i did because they know what the consequences will be. Upon leaving the Naval Academy, all forms of treatment ended. I was on my own to fend for myself. Thanks to the support of my family i was able to get the treatment i needed which began with weaning me off the drugs prescribed to me by the military doctors. Drugs that created the very personality disorders i was exhibiting. After more than five years of detoxification, i am off medications. I only had one year remaining at the military academy. I will never forget the day i had to return my class ring which represented the three years of hell i had to endure. I wanted to do is complete my education while getting proper treatment. All of this was denied to me by my Naval Academy leadership. Thank you. Announcer up next, testimony from a former member of the air force who was raped and beaten by a noncommissioned officer. She describes her injuries following the assault and the lack of help from commanding officers. This was part of a hearing earlier this year by the Defense Advisory Committee investigating Sexual Assault in the armed forces. The committee was created in 2016 to advise the defense secretary in congress on the allegations of Sexual Misconduct. Good afternoon. Hannah stolberg contracting specialist in the air force. In sorry, let me take a moment. Take all the time you want. Hannah i was medically retired think last year and i what is shocking to some people is that i never even deployed. My scariest encounters were places like california, maryland with a population of i think seven people at the time. Wrightpatterson air force base. I really did not do anything that was that intensive. Reached back for contingency construction is san antonio, texas. And in 2012i was raped and beaten almost to death by an airman cfo. Almost two days out of consciousness and in car justice on a concrete floor over columbus day weekend. When i did not show up to work, no one even came to check on me. During the assault, my right shoulder was dislocated. My left heel was fractured. Damage was done to my spine. I did not find out from us to year and a half that i had received a traumatic brain injury. This to myrted command to try to get help, i was put in my Commanders Office with my commander in my superintendent who is also an acting First Sergeant because we were a small squadron and told sometimes it was just better to suck and it the was conveyed that there would not be help from that front. My superintendent did not say anything but his silence was his agreement. He did not question what mike commanders said. What this led to me it was very hard to suck it up. I did not find out my fever was fractured for months. Every time i went to the doctor, they told me i was running too much, and it wasnt until a major realized something was really wrong and sydney for a andan they realized sent me for a bone scan they realized the damage that had been done. My commanders part, it was handled well, i would like to point out that often times we dont give the necessary training to those in charge, in order to give them the tools to deal with someone in the situation. Im very humbled to let you all know that about two years after this happened, when a lot of the scandal was coming out of lackland, i remember our trainings on Sexual Assault increased, a lot more awareness pulledng on your i was to the side by that same acting First Sergeant, and he said we handle your situation wrong, what can i do to support you and fix it . I would like to point that out because, as Senior Master togeant, he had no reason stick up for me at that point, two years later, and put himself on the line, that he was willing to put his a stripes and reputation on the line as senior airman, going through a medical would be medically retired. I think that is important to talk about the character of someone who has so much humility to come back and address something that has been handled wrong. In the aspect of what happened with him, it was truly lack of training and even knowing how to with this sort of situation. He had never encountered before. My my Recovery Process was not very smooth. Patient at ann intensive program for ptsd. There i was in a unit with all military members. And msp, and it women from all branches who had experienced Sexual Assault and trauma. It was resounding across the board, that the way the situations were being handled well. As not very i was pulled out of this program i didnt thinkng i was ready. The following day i was given an npr bite my command, and my ipervisor told me although might have outperformed my tears because i was in patient and unable to work, i would be 04, because i have been absent. This was on my birthday. They took me to lunch, gave me a , and iad me sign my epr went home and tried to commit suicide. Obviously it didnt work. I took every pill i could possibly take. I did not have access to a firearm. The turning point for me was when i got involved with my air force Wounded Warrior program. Branches were i became involved in this program at the very end of my time on active duty. They wanted to take me to an Adaptive Sports camp. My command said i could go if i tdy upony 15 days of requirement to go to this camp, and i said sure. It had a beach. And i went. That was the turning point for me. I was taught that things i did not think i could overcome, i could. I used to run, believe it or not, despite my physique now. And to run quite a bit and loved it. Not being able to run anymore was devastating to me. At that camp, they put me in a racing chair and for the first time in two years, i felt the wind fly past my here. Every sport they gave me from there on out helped me grow and claim back some of that confidence. In the program, i was also linked up with the mentorship aspect of the program and was been anmentor who has incredible help to my recovery, as well. Finally, the aspect that has helped the most is the ambassador program, where i was hopefully somewhat convey my story as i healed, and that is where the chief Master Sergeant heard me speak and ask me to attend. It was support like this that helped me grow, and helped me recover. I think that is important to point out. Can begrams put in place very effective and helpful as long as there is not pushed back from command. I have spoken on several occasions, although not to this kind of room. Nerves. Ize for my i can remember the first time i heard someone speak about how they had been assaulted, and it made an impact on me because when youre in this position, you know others are out there, but there is such a stigma of shame surrounding it that no one speaks about it. There are other people floating out there, and you never know who. I remember hearing someone speak on it, and i went up to him afterwards and i can remember e, too. Need to m if you are a social media, you have probably seen metoo. I did not realize these were the International Words for people. , have yet to speak anywhere any crowd, and not be approached afterwards, usually in a hushed tone, and told me too. Of the people who have already been through a trauma and are recovering is something that cannot be ignored. You know you have someone who has been in that same position, you find strength and it. Strength in it. Learning to find my voice. I hate public speaking. This is an uncomfortable subject. Um, i remember being silenced and the pain and the absolute isolation it brings. Even if my voice is just a whisper right now, i am very humbled and thankful that you have listened to me. I am very humbled and thankful that you would take the steps to try to protect and enforce better laws so that in the future things like this hopefully wont happen as much. Thank you. Thank you. I do have one question for you, if you dont mind. S it from your attack until you are able to get to the program on the beach you found helpful . Different m had it is a war that is escaping me, one second. Campsogram has different they go around each region in the u. S. I did not go to my first one in till april 2016. My assault happened in 2012. Nab started a good question. 2016 is when my neb started. An attempt to catch people as soon as the process started. I dont know about other branches, but on the air force i they have had a huge uptick in enrollment because they have been able to catch people faster than at the end. I think if i could have gotten into a program like this sooner, i might not be quite in the state i am today. I think my recovery would have been faster and better, and not quite so rocky. But i have also seen that on the of the way Sexual Assault is handled in general, at least some air force side. I was saying earlier that i think if what i if what happened to me happened to me today in seventh 2012, it would be vastly different. I am very thankful that strides are being made to make the situation better and better. Did that adequately . Again. To see you when you got out of the hospital and went back to the unit, how were you integrated back into the unit and what kind of jobs did they give you . Get sort of dependent. Depended. Of ive had multiple surgeries. Stay. Course my inpatient when you say that treat someone like a monster, they become a monster. When the news came out and they did not know what to do with me, they just sort of squirrel meat away squirreled me away in a do. E and give me stuff to job, i wase in my not going to win airmen of the year, but i was good at my job. I took pride in what i did. My work definitely suffered afterward. Ptsd,f it was undiagnosed but part of it was the total lack of support and not really understanding how to go about getting help. Think it is important to still engage with your members, especially if they can still carry out the mission and task, to be reduced to almost nothing was one of the key factors in me attempting to take my own life. I had beenpped stripped of my own dignity, of my job, my profession and my air force family. To be squirreled away, kept in secret, certainly did not help. Perspective, i know what happened to you happened in 2012, but as you have seen as you have been speaking out and talking to people, where do you see the biggest need for improvement . I am devastated to say that at least half the people i talked to never reported anything. They are not going to be any statistics, even in your restricted report. They are silent. I have talked to many people who have been in the same kind of situation i have aware they have reached out for help and they were silenced. I have even met people who worked the victim who were not the victim, but knew the victim and spoke out at almost lost her life because of it, and nothing was done. I have encountered as men in shocking, numbers are that either did not report at all or nothing really came of it. I understand it is difficult to prosecute at times, but a lot of times the way it is handled at the beginning could be the key between going to a trial or not. For me, when i was finally , they said we tbi could have done more for you if you could come in 2448 hours after it happened. Hours, i was still laying on the concrete floor with no one looking for me. Disconnectsiggest is between leadership, and i dont think it is malicious, i think it is just a lack of ignorance to what to do in this situation. It is still so stigmatized that even commanders dont know what to do when you bring up the fact. First of all, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your courage to be here and since 2012. Part of the task of this committee is to look at the review process for cases that are investigated by the military. Dont know the background on the investigative process, if there was one, and what you perspective is on that process, in that case . There are different avenues you can take, as we all know. I took the avenue of reporting to my commander. And it wasshut down made known that they were not i ended have my back, up, after doing quite a bit of research and looking into just trends and how things go to trial, the percentage of people who are even prosecuted, and the percentage of action that is taken even from men, and to look at especially in the military, you would see it come out in the base letters all the time, someone drove drunk and they have been kicked out of the air force, but someone assaults someone and they go in for like a month. They have reduced pay for nine months. Is that what my dignity was worth . Is that what my life is worth . And i see that from so many other people around me. For that reason, i chose to report restricted, knowing that i literally had no one to support me. I am very sorry. May i ask a question . Yes, maam. And join the others in thank you for your courage. Did anything happen to the man who assaulted you or those higher up who did not do anything to help you . Nothing happened with the man who assaulted me. , because iommander was having such a hard time at assigned to help put together his retirement ceremony. Me he sat catty corner for from me as a civilian for a year and half. That is what happened to him. Force at some point, did you unrestricted your report . I have not. I am just speaking. At this point, when i speak, especially to other wounded four years who have been in fields more intense than mine, they tend to be, you did not have justice, lets bring justice, lets go get him. Someone told me yesterday, there are different kinds of justice. At this point, i am five years out. I have been through one heck of a Mental Health side, and i am not exactly rocksolid, as you have probably noticed. This is my justice, trying to be a voice for those who are still silence, eking out against this speaking out against this. Thank you for doing that. You are doing it very eloquently. Thank you, maam. Im glad you are speaking to us. I want to acknowledge that you have found your voice. I know you have places you want to go, but it is a beautiful, strong thing. Thank you, maam. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your experience, it has been very moving for all of us. Thank you for having me. The final portion of our program on Sexual Harassment and abuse includes testimony by two , whor olympic gymnasts talked about abuse they experienced at the hands of u. S. Gymnastics team dr. Larry nassar. The Senate Judiciary Committee Held a hearing in late march. Of thisnguished members committee, i am honored to appear before you today. Thank you. Gymnasticsove with just before i was three years old when i saw marilou written on tv. Y lou retton on tv. Sports, but i never stopped asking for my parents to let me take gymnastics. I wanted to be an olympian. I took all of the cushions off of the couch to use as matt and tried to teach myself flips. After arranging the furniture for years, my parents put me in gymnastics when i was about seven and a half years old. I loved it more than i thought it would. I love to to tumble and the parallel bars. I wanted to be like the olympians on tv. I wore my hair like them, dressed like them and try to walk in sound like them. I practiced over and over. My parents had to beg me to leave the gym after practice every time, because i could not get enough of it. Gymnastics brought me so much joy as a little girl. When i was 11 years old, i started training as an elite gymnast in west covina, california. I needed to work with more experienced coaches. My familyacrifice for because of the 90 minute drive both ways from home. I had six siblings also involved in sports. It woulds assured them be worth it because i have the talent to go really far. My parents did not know how they would make all of this work, but they decided to try, and hoped i would have the opportunity to get a College Scholarship one day. Gymnastics started becoming very intense at this point. I was training 2530 hours per week. My coaches were very serious and even scary to me at times. They would yell at me. My body was always sore. I always seem to to be tired, but i was learning the skills i had only seen on tv. I thought that was what i needed to do to accomplish my dream. I made the Junior National team for the first time when i was just 12 years old. It was in palm springs, california. What i remember most about the competition is that competing at the same competition, where girls that i had always i had only seen on tv. I was so excited. I made the National Team every year after that all the weight to the olympics. Then introduced to dr. Larry nassar. What i have only come to understand is that what he performed him he was Sexual Assault. He abuse me at the National Training center in texas. In california abused me in california and all over the world. Sometimes in my own room and in my own bed. He accused me in my hotel in sydney at the olympic games. I first started talking about my abuse, i thought i was the only one. I was even criticized by some for bringing it to light. Now i know im not alone. And 100one women one women have come forward with shockingly similar stories. Children often suffer their abuse in silence. They are taught to submit to the authority of adults. This is especially true in the hypercompetitive world of elite gymnastics. Women need to speak up and that is why i am here today. Usa gymnastics failed is most a sick responsibility to protect athletes under its care. They fail to take action against coaches, trainers and other adults who abuse children and allowed dr. Nasser to abuse women and girls for more than 20 years. The federal law that governs our should nowgrams specify the usa gymnastics should abide by stricter policies to prevent sexual abuse in order to maintain its certification. It is time the log reflects that usa gymnastics hice priority should be protecting their athletes from sexual abuse, and that exactly what they failed to prevent. To thise than grateful committee for inviting me to add my voice in supporting this important new legislation. It would require gymnastics and other sports organizations to report child abuse to Law Enforcement and provide ways to seek justice. Your ou for thank you for inviting me to speak to you. The day i started my sport was the day i fell in love with it. The first two years of training were pure bliss. But i needed to switch to an elite coach. My first practice was so intense as spent the following two days vomiting and unable to return to practice. When i did return, the work began. By age 15, i was u. S. National champion, a position i held for three years. But my training sessions took a toll. Time i reached World Championships in 1999, my hips hurt so badly at times i could barely walk. Sits e World Champion championships when i was just 17, my coach called me into the room. She yelled at me so severely i sat perfectly still and my only movement was to fix can for my finger. Among other things, she told me i was an embarrassment to my country, family and her, and she had net had never been so humiliated coaching someone as she was me and they would kick me off the team is my practice was an better. Afterward, i wanted to jump out the window. Usa gymnastics suggested i go see dr. Larry nassar, renowned for his work with the gymnastics team, to help with my hip pain. I went by myself. I was thankful to have a few days away from my coach. I dont remember an adult taking responsibility for me, and the first time i met dr. Nasser, i trusted him. He was the premier gymnastics lucky to belt invited to work with him. For our first apartment, yes me to wear loose shorts and no underwear. That seems strange, but i obeyed. I wanted to be perfect. He began to massage my legs and moved inward on my thighs. He massaged his way into me. I was rigid and uncomfortable but did not realize what was happening. I was confused and thought it was what had to happen. This happened repeatedly while i was at the ranch. It never was another adult in the room. Dr. Nasser acted as a good guy, promising me relief from the pain. Now i know he expertly abuse me under the guise of treatment. I trusted usa gymnastics, but i was sexually abused, as were so many other athletes. More than 100 young women and girls have come forward to accuse a dr. Nasser of Sexual Assault, and the abuse is not limited to him. More than 5000 pages released to the indy star on march 3 after a link the court better, some of the 64 coaches with abuse charges were not banned until years after usa gymnastics discovered they were accused of crimes against children. I served on the gymnastics board of directors with the goal of protecting children. The meetings seemed to revolve around two things, money and medals. The concerns were about the reputation of the coach, not the wellbeing of the athletes. It has become glaringly obvious usa gymnastics has not done really enough to protect athletes from any form of abuse. To show they are serious about making institution wide changes that will create a safe environment for athletes, usa gymnastics must be accountable and required by law to adopt a zerotolerance policy regarding abuse. It took five weeks for usa gymnastics to report dr. Nasser to the fbi at once suspicions were raised, only after conducting an internal investigation. Protecting all children in sports is of paramount importance. Because itvital requires reporting allegations of sexual abuse and makes it easier for victims to report. This legislation will also help victims by extending the statute of legislation statute of limitations. There is nothing more motivating and powerful than an olympic dream, but there is a long life to live after a gymnastics career. My poster mastech life has been fraught with issues from the abuse i endured as a teenager. It is important for those in power to make sure and athletes life is not crippled by abuse. Thank you. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. An author and, georgetown sociology professor joins us to talk about Race Relations in the u. S. In his book. Be sure to watch washington journal live sunday morning. Join the discussion. Monday, christmas day, on the cspan networks. 10 00 a. M. Eastern, Queen Elizabeth delivers her annual christmas message. 8 00 a. M. Eastern, cornell west debate middlewitz east peace. What kind of human values are we willing to promote . Are we going to forget the very ugly realities in gaza and west bank . If you look at the you in today, there is one country in the world that is the focus of 90 of you and resolutions, and that is israel. At 6 30, a world war ii veteran recalls his Bombing Missions over japan with his book. I was given a mission. The squadron took off, was led into a front, 27 fighter planes went down, 25 guys were killed. For me to tell you the truth of how i felt then, but i missed the airplane. We were there to protect our freedom, there to fight and we did that. It was after the war that i suffered. On American History tv on cspan3 at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, Linmanuel Miranda accepts the u. S. Capital historical societies 2017 freedom award. When you are theater kit, you make friends with kids from different grades in social groups. You work hard to create something greater than the sum of your parts. Just for the sake of making something great. You trust your passion and let it lead the way. Watch monday, christmas day, on the cspan networks. Former u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Samantha power discussed