Apparently, sexual assaulters stick together in the Trump administration. In what is sure to be the grossest, most hideous appointment yet (aren’t they all, though?), the Trump administration has hired an official to work at the State Department that was actually accused of multiple sexual assaults during his time as a student at The Citadel military college.
Steven Munoz was hired by the Trump administration as assistant chief of visits, running an office of up to 10 staffers charged with the sensitive work of organizing visits of foreign heads of state to the U.S. That includes arranging meetings with the president.
At The Citadel, five male freshmen alleged that Munoz used his positions as an upperclassman, class president and head of the campus Republican Society to grope them. In one incident, a student reported waking up with Munoz on top of him, kissing him and grabbing his genitals. In another, on a trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., a student said that Munoz jumped on him in bed and he "felt jerking and bouncing on my back."
An investigation by The Citadel later found that "certain assaults likely occurred." A local prosecutor reviewed the case and declined to seek an indictment.
This is absolutely insane. Five students complained that Munoz is a serial groper and the school also found that this likely happened. But a prosecutor never filed charges. This speaks to how those who are accused of sexual assault face no consequences for their behavior and are actually rewarded for abusing others.
After one student reported to a school official in 2010 that Munoz had sexually assaulted him, The Citadel didn't discipline Munoz. Instead, it gave him a warning.
Over the next year and a half, Munoz allegedly assaulted four other students. Those incidents weren't reported until well after Munoz graduated in 2011. [...]
Upon graduation, The Citadel gave Munoz an award for "leadership, sound character and service to others." The citation said he could "always be counted upon to help classmates who need assistance and to mentor younger cadets adjusting to life at The Citadel." [..]
When more students came forward the year after Munoz graduated, The Citadel banned him from campus and referred the case to state police, who did an extensive investigation.
Of course, part of what makes this complicated is that most of these allegations did not come out until after Munoz graduated. But this information is not hard to find. If the Trump administration had done any vetting at all, they would have easily found it (hello, has anyone over there in Trumpland heard of Google before?).
Munoz's hiring raises questions about the Trump administration's vetting of political appointees, which has been both slow and spotty, with multiple incidents of staff being fired only weeks into their jobs, including for disloyalty to Trump. The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.
But yet here they are, just giving accused sexual assaulters jobs in the administration. Apparently, in their minds that doesn’t disqualify someone for a job. But then again with an admitted serial groper in the Oval Office, are we surprised?