Trump asks for police records from Kavanaugh accuser

<p>Experts on Long Island, sex assault victims and others are responding to the president's tweets about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, saying it's not unusual for sex assault victims to not come forward right away.&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Sep 21, 2018, 6:30 PM

Updated 2,037 days ago

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Experts on Long Island, sex assault victims and others are responding to the president's tweets about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, saying it's not unusual for sex assault victims to not come forward right away.
President Donald Trump went on the offensive in support of Kavanaugh, calling on his accuser to provide a police report of the assault she claims took place when the two were in high school. 
At this point there's no indication a police report was ever filed in the alleged Kavanaugh incident. The Safe Center in Bethpage says that's not uncommon.
"A majority of the time victims don't come forward. Sixty-three percent of sexual assault cases don't come forward. They're never reported," says Keith Scott, director of education at the Safe Center. "It's a traumatic event, so it takes a long time for them to process what happened to them - there's a lot of embarrassment and shame with that."
Liz Osowiecki can relate. Four years ago to the day, she says she was drunk, unconscious and gang-raped by a group of males on her college campus. Her friends knew what happened to her before she did. She says she was basically forced to file a police report.
"I don't know if I would have come forward, that's why I can say I understand many survivors who don't come forward. Because I don't know, if the situation was different, if it was something that I could have kept to myself just like other survivors do, I probably would have done that."
Rep. Kathleen Rice tweeted that the president's comments are "disgusting and ignorant."
Christine Blasey Ford is ready to testify next week under certain conditions that she says are fair and ensure her safety. She will not answer attorney questions, only questions from senators. And her lawyers say they want Kavanaugh to testify first. It's not clear if and when these testimonies will happen.


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