Democratic presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran, said Sunday she knows women in the military like Sen. Martha McSally who wouldn't admit they were sexually assaulted, including her closest friend.
'I believe that we still today don't know how rampant sexual assault in the military is, because there is still a fear of retaliation,' Gabbard said at a town hall hosted by CNN at the South by Southwest festival.
Gabbard said she knows people like McSally ‘who feel like it’s impossible’ to come forward with their stories, including her best friend.
Democratic presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran, said she knows women in the military who won't report their sexual assault
‘One of my closest friends still refused to do it,' the representative from Hawaii said.
‘Still to this day?,’ asked CNN’s Dana Bash.
‘Still to this day,’ Gabbard responded. ‘She has never reported what happened to her.’
Gabbard, who serves in the Army National Guard, said there is still a 'stigma' against those who report sexual assault.
'There is a stigma and people who don't want to be known as that one. She or he is that one who went against the team, who turned their back,' she said.
McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, said last week that she was raped by a superior officer while serving in the Air Force – and almost left the military over the 'betrayal' she felt.
She said she didn't report it because she didn't trust the system.
Gabbard said she's sat with officials from the Defense Department who don't recognize the 'serious change' needed to bring justice to the victims.
'I have sat through hearings and engaged with leaders from the department of defense in my role as a member of the armed services committee where, unfortunately, there is a lack of recognition, of the serious change that needs to take place for there to be a true path for justice, for victims of sexual assault in the military,' she said.
McSally, a 26-year military veteran, made the stunning disclosure at a Senate hearing on the armed services' efforts to prevent sexual
