Vanessa Guillen's Family to Meet With Trump Over Sex Misconduct Bill
Vanessa Guillen's family is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday over the new "#IAmVanessaGuillen" bill, a measure aiming to help sexual harassment victims.
Guillen's family lawyer and author of the bill, Natalie Khawam, told Fox News that she does not know one person in the world "that doesn't think that this is the greatest thing on Earth."
The proposed bill would allow service members to report sexual harassment without going through their chain of command. This allows the victims to report mistreatment claims to a toll-free 800 number.
Khawam said it would be the first in a series of events to support the #IAmVanessaGuillen bill.
Vanessa Guillen's Case
Guillen went missing in April after she was beaten to death by a fellow enlisted service Aaron Robison. He was assisted with his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, according to investigations.
Guillen's remains were found near Fort Hood on June 30. Robinson then killed himself as investigators closed in on him.
Aguilar has been charged for reportedly helping Robison dispose of Guillen's body.
Guillen's family said she had told them that she was being sexually harassed but did not file a report.
The Army did not confirm the claims.
"(Vanessa) felt so unsafe that going to them [her chain of command] to make any kind of report that she shared with her family and her friends, any kind of report, she knew that she may receive harassment or retaliation," Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, was quoted in a report.
Garcia said that Vanessa's story is not new, adding that it is time to put a stop on this.
"Cover-ups"
Khawam said there are "cover-ups" taking place at Fort Hood.
Khawam said some of the questions are what happened and how did this happen. She also said what kind of securities the soldiers have.
She said that there are cover-ups that are happening as no one is giving true answers, correct answers, and accurate answers.
Khawam said they are dumbfounded how this could happen on a U.S. base.
Aguilar pleaded not guilty to the charges for her alleged participation in the crime. He tried deleting her Google accounts and fleeing the country, Khawam said.
When asked if Guillen's family will get answers, Khawam said she absolutely thinks so.
"Our president loves our troops, he loves our military, and he loves our veterans, and I believe that we are going to work together, and we're going to find an answer here to help everybody," Khawam said.
Sexual Assault in The U.S. Army
In a 2019 report, the number of sexual assault cases and suicides in the Army was on the rise.
The rise in sexual assault is highlighted in the 17-24-year-old age range, meaning those are the age bracket of soldiers relatively new to the Army.
According to the Army Times, the sexual assault rate among women in the Army rose from 4.4 percent in 2016 to 5.8 percent in 2018.
The sexual assault rate for men rose from 0.6 percent to 0.7 percent.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said that experts had noted a strong connection between the health of a command climate and the sexual harassment occurrences.
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