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Last month’s arrest of Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, the Air Force’s official tasked with leading its sexual-assault prevention program, has triggered a national debate on how to reduce sexual assault in the military. As it stands, the military is responsible for investigating and prosecuting its officers sexual assault claims. But many military and government officials are dismayed by the system, claiming it is inherently flawed. Democratic Senator, Kristen Gillibrand spearheaded a move to remove sexual assault cases from the military’s chain of command, but on Wednesday was shot down.
Senator Barbara Boxer, a supporter of Gillibrand’s failed proposal, joined All In with Chris Hayes on Wednesday to discuss her disappointment with the outcome. Chris Hayes prefaced a question to Boxer by playing a clip of Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. In the clip, Kaine rattles off a laundry list of serious crimes the chain of command is responsible for: “murder, larceny, robbery, forgery, bad checks, arson, extortion, burglary, house breaking, perjury, fraud against the United States.” Hayes prefaced the clip with: “Tim Kaine basically making the argument, you’re going to take this out of the chain of command, why not take all these other horrible crimes out of the chain of command?” Hayes misunderstood Kaine’s point. In fact Kaine was making the opposite argument. He was listing the full range of crimes that the Gillibrand bill would remove from the chain of command and arguing that the legislation was too broad. All In with Chris regrets the error.
All In
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