The decision to support Air Force General John E. Hyten to become President Donald Trump's second-highest military officer, the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was something that mandated extra reflection for Republican Senator Martha McSally. "I feel like, because of what I've been through, I knew people were going to be looking to me, and I didn't take that responsibility and burden lightly," McSally, a first-term lawmaker from Arizona, told Newsweek. Her position is unique to many of her colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who, on Tuesday, questioned General Hyten as part of the confirmation process. McSally is a former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is a military rape survivor. General Hyten has been accused of sexual assault by a former subordinate, throwing a wrench into what would have otherwise been a routine confirmation process. "I cleared my calendar and said, 'I need to know personally, I need to study this personally.' I'm not relying on staff — no dig on staff," McSally said, motioning to one of her nearby aides. "But I gotta take this dive myself, right? Because I have a unique perspective on it. Not just as a survivor, but as someone who is steeped into this." McSally said she spent the past few weeks examining a report that resulted from an Air Force Office of Special Investigations probe, which reportedly found insufficient evidence of sexual misconduct committed by General Hyten, a four-star general. Colonel Kathryn Spletstoser told The New York Times last week that he made several unwanted advances on her throughout her tenure working under General Hyten, including a December night in 2017 when he allegedly sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. In her opening remarks, McSally stated, for the first time, her full-fledged support for General Hyten, having concluded that the accusations against him are "false." "The truth is that General Hyten is innocent of these charges. Sexual assault happens in the military. It just didn't happen in this case," she said. "I pray the accuser gets the help she needs and finds the peace she is searching for, but it cannot be by destroying General Hyten with false allegations." The report that determined there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing by General Hyten has only been made available to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, another reason why McSally felt her colleagues would look toward her for guidance. Further muddying the water, Colonel Spletstoser, who sat just feet away from General Hyten at Tuesday's hearing, has said that she was ousted by him because she refused his sexual advances — not due to a separate government inquiry that reportedly determined she was a "toxic" leader. "We know more than is being adjudicated in the court of public opinion right now, which is a challenge. And we are trying to protect the process and information that's not releasable that we have and that we've studied," McSally said. "A lot of my colleagues h
Why GOP Senator and rape survivor Martha McSally has endorsed a Trump nominee accused of sexual assa
The decision to support Air Force General John E. Hyten to become President Donald Trump's second-highest military officer, the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was something that mandated extra reflection for Republican Senator Martha McSally. "I feel like, because of what I've been through, I knew people were going to be looking to me, and I didn't take that responsibility and burden lightly," McSally, a first-term lawmaker from Arizona, told Newsweek. Her position is unique to many of her colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who, on Tuesday, questioned General Hyten as part of the confirmation process. McSally is a former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is a military rape survivor. General Hyten has been accused of sexual assault by a former subordinate, throwing a wrench into what would have otherwise been a routine confirmation process. "I cleared my calendar and said, 'I need to know personally, I need to study this personally.' I'm not relying on staff — no dig on staff," McSally said, motioning to one of her nearby aides. "But I gotta take this dive myself, right? Because I have a unique perspective on it. Not just as a survivor, but as someone who is steeped into this." McSally said she spent the past few weeks examining a report that resulted from an Air Force Office of Special Investigations probe, which reportedly found insufficient evidence of sexual misconduct committed by General Hyten, a four-star general. Colonel Kathryn Spletstoser told The New York Times last week that he made several unwanted advances on her throughout her tenure working under General Hyten, including a December night in 2017 when he allegedly sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. In her opening remarks, McSally stated, for the first time, her full-fledged support for General Hyten, having concluded that the accusations against him are "false." "The truth is that General Hyten is innocent of these charges. Sexual assault happens in the military. It just didn't happen in this case," she said. "I pray the accuser gets the help she needs and finds the peace she is searching for, but it cannot be by destroying General Hyten with false allegations." The report that determined there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing by General Hyten has only been made available to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, another reason why McSally felt her colleagues would look toward her for guidance. Further muddying the water, Colonel Spletstoser, who sat just feet away from General Hyten at Tuesday's hearing, has said that she was ousted by him because she refused his sexual advances — not due to a separate government inquiry that reportedly determined she was a "toxic" leader. "We know more than is being adjudicated in the court of public opinion right now, which is a challenge. And we are trying to protect the process and information that's not releasable that we have and that we've studied," McSally said. "A lot of my colleagues h
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