Trump education official apologizes for comments about sexual assault

An Education Department official apologized for making comments that appeared to cast doubt on “90 percent” of sexual assault claims.

Candice Jackson, the head of the civil rights division at the department, backtracked on her statements on sexual assault from the day before and issued a written apology to sexual assault survivors, Politico reported.

She said her comments were “flippant” and said they “poorly characterized the conversations I’ve had with countless groups of advocates.”

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On Wednesday, Jackson told The New York Times that the rights of students accused of sexual assault are usually ignored, and that male students are branded as rapists “when the facts just don’t back that up.”

“The accusations — 90 percent of them — fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’ ‘we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last [time] sleeping together was not quite right,’ ” Jackson told the Times.

Jackson added that “both parties” are usually under the influence of alcohol or drugs in campus sexual assault cases.