Author: CNN

Rosalynn Carter was a lot of things — a grandmother, an adventurer, and someone with “unshakable strength,” her grandson, Jason Carter, said at a tribute service in her honor on Tuesday.

He said her life was a “testament to the power of faith and love,” pointing to her 77-year marriage to Jimmy Carter, who their grandson said “inspired the world.”

Despite her high-profile role in the White House, Jason said she was still a very normal grandmother.

“Almost all of her recipes call for mayonnaise, for example. We all got cards from her on our birthdays — $20 bill in it,” he said.

Jason also talked about a time when his grandmother took out a Tupperware of pimento cheese and bread on an airplane and made everyone sandwiches. He said that anecdote demonstrated how much she loved people, getting laughs from the crowd gathered in the church.

“She was a rock for our family,” but she was also an “adventurer, a voyager, a mountain climber.”

Jason said his grandmother had “unshakable strength and powerful faith.” He talked about how Rosalynn would open her heart up to people all over the country and to advocate fiercely for things that mattered to her and other Americans, including mental health.

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CNN
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Twinkling lights, glitter, Champagne and petit fours. It’s time to treat yourself to some holiday cheer.

Luxury hotels serve up a glamorous way to brighten up the Christmas season, whether for an overnight stay or an elegant afternoon tea.

These lavish hotels are worth a closer look for a few hours of sipping tea and admiring Christmas decorations or for a spur of the moment escape or a future holiday splurge.

Natural mineral springs have drawn guests, including US presidents, to The Greenbrier for more than two centuries. The historic hotel opened in 1913.

Letters to Santa, a fun run and cookie decorating workshops are all part of The Greenbrier’s lineup in the days surrounding December 25.

On Christmas Eve, there’s a Season’s Greetings Dinner ($125 per adult; $55 per child) and a service in the resort’s chapel. On Christmas Day, puzzles and board games, indoor planetarium presentations and a Christmas musical will keep families entertained.

Rates start at $609.

The Greenbrier, 101 Main Street West, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

The Fife Arms: Braemar, Scotland

Fishing, foraging and hiking are just outside at The Fife Arms, an antiques-packed, 19th-century retreat within Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands.

The hotel is 14.5 kilometers (nine miles) from Balmoral, the Royal Family’s residence in Scotland.

For winter guests, there’s a seasonal alpine fondue hut with a cozy fireplace. On the menu, a traditional Swiss option of molten cheese is joined by a Scottish take on the rich classic – a blend of two local cheeses and a local pale ale.

Rooms start at about $650 in late December. There’s also a special Christmas package, subject to availability.

The Fife Arms, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

“Serenity Season” is right on time at the Ojai Valley Inn, where spa treatments, golf, tennis, yoga and more can be incorporated into a restorative stay at this 220-acre coastal valley resort.

In December, caroling, a nightly Menorah lighting, breakfast with Santa and story time with Santa’s elves are among the festivities. On December 24, there’s a Jingle Bell Jaunt across the resort grounds.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner will be served at both Olivella and The Oak, and there’s a grand buffet on Christmas Day at The Farmhouse ($195 per adult, including wine; $65 for children 12 and younger).

December room rates start at $795 per night.

Ojai Valley Inn, Ojai, California

Tea time and Christmastime coincide at The Plaza’s elegant Palm Court, where three holiday tea menus will be available through December 31.

The Holiday Signature Tea ($155 per person) features savories and sweets, including a foie gras macaron and an oolong tea cheesecake.

Eloise, the hotel’s famous fictional resident, lends her name to a children’s tea available for $118 per child.

There’s a Christmas Day buffet ($325 for adults). And for New Year’s Eve, a lavish grand fête offering comes with a price tag to match: $995 per person.

The starting rate at The Plaza for Christmas week is $1,800 per night.

The Plaza, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, New York

Anantara Golden Triangle: Chiang Rai, Thailand

As far as memorable holiday experiences go, it’s hard to beat sleeping in a clear bubble with elephants roaming right outside.

It’s possible at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. The resort’s two-bedroom Jungle Bubble Lodge is transformed into snow globes for the holidays. Starlit skies and gentle giants add another layer to the magic.

The resort has a selection of more traditional luxury rooms, and guests can learn more about the beloved residents at Elephant Camp.

A Christmas Day brunch will showcase fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Rooms start at about $1,660, including meals, airport transfers and some activities.

Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort, Wiang, Chiang Saen District, Chiang Rai

A sledding mountain, two outdoor skating rinks and a new Aurora Ice Lounge are just part of the annual Christmas at the Princess festival. Add 7.5 million lights, a train and more: It’s safe to say Fairmont Scottsdale Princess doesn’t believe in holding back for the holidays.

The festival, which runs through January 6, is open to the public. Free for hotel guests, the entrance fee is $35 per wristband with advance purchase; children three and under are admitted for free. Self-parking is $35 in advance.

Rooms start at $399. There are also holiday packages available.

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, 7575 East Princess Drive, Scottsdale, Arizona

Rock House: Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

There’s certainly a lot to be said for a warm-weather Christmas that involves lounging poolside with a cocktail.

The luxury resort Rock House on the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos offers holiday programming from December 18 through January 3 including live music at al fresco restaurant Vita, a craft market, s’mores and more.

On Christmas Eve, guests are invited to a boat experience followed by brunch from chef Dennis Boon, and in the evening, a Feast of the Seven Fishes is followed by live entertainment at Vita.

A “Journey of the Mediterranean” Christmas dinner will features flavors from Greece, Morocco and Italy.

Christmas week rates start at $1,100 a night.

Rock House, Blue Mountain Road, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

Historic Hôtel de Crillon delivers a next-level Parisian holiday.

From December 11 through January 1, a festive afternoon tea service with pastries and canapés is available at the Jardin d’Hiver for about $95 per person.

A seven-course Christmas Eve menu at L’Écrin starts at about $650. A lavish Christmas Day brunch, featuring items such as scallop carpaccio, roasted veal rack and black truffle mashed potatoes, is available for about $250 including a glass of Champagne.

The five-star property, originally built in 1758 under the direction of King Louis XV, overlooks Paris’ Place de la Concorde.

Over Christmas weekend, rooms start at $2,265.

Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, 10 place de la Concorde, Paris

In the United States capital, the Willard InterContinental will host free nightly performances by local choral and vocal ensembles in the lobby through December 23, and signature holiday cocktails will be available in the famed Round Robin Bar.

Holiday afternoon tea – with finger sandwiches and pastries – will be served every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from December 2 through December 30 ($90 per adult or $102 with a glass of champagne; $65 per child).

Room rates in December start at $289.

Willard InterContinental, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC

Four Seasons: Hampshire and London, England

An hour from central London, Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire serves up a sophisticated country Christmas in an 18th-century manor on 500 acres of rolling meadows.

An equestrian center and other outdoor offerings will ensure a hearty appetite for holiday meals at Wild Carrot, afternoon tea in the Drawing Room or a cozy Swiss-inspired meal at the pop-up alpine restaurant Off Piste.

Hotel Hampshire rates during the Christmas season start at about $1,790.

For a sparkling city Christmas, guests at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane will find an enchanted forest of chandeliers in the lobby, Christmas afternoon tea and other special holiday menus. Room rates start around $1,050 this season.

Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire and Four Seasons Hotel London Park Lane, England

Madeline Hotel & Residences: Telluride, Colorado

With 14,000-foot peaks as your backdrop, why not have a ski and spa Christmas?

Madeline Hotel & Residences in Telluride boasts luxurious ski-in/ski-out accommodation, with a spa that offers treatments such as Alpine Remedy Muscle Relief for your after-ski rejuvenation.

There’s a three-course Christmas Eve dinner that can be packed to-go or enjoyed at Black Iron Kitchen + Bar, featuring juniper-glazed Cornish game hen or herb-crusted Colorado lamb leg, for $175 for adults, $55 per child.

A Holiday Maker’s Market will be held on select days leading up to Christmas, and the interactive art installation Alpenglow is returning for a second year. The resort has teamed up with a local holiday decorating service to offer a menu of in-room Christmas trees with choices from Tartan & Tradition to the sparkly All That Glitters.

The starting rate during Christmas is $1,799.

Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection, Mountain Village Blvd. Telluride, Colorado

The holidays are a gourmet affair at the Royal Mansour in Marrakech.

The property’s restaurants will feature special menus for Christmas and New Year’s Eve from Michelin-star chefs.

At La Grande Brassiere, which debuted at Royal Mansour on November 1, chef Hélène Darroze is introducing a festive afternoon tea featuring items such as an orange blossom tropézienne and a cardamom opéra.

Pastry chef Jean Lachenal and Darroze have created four bûches de Noël this year, including a mango and gingerbread yule log topped with a light cream with local cinnamon.

The hotel will host a Christmas market in its lobby on December 16 with handmade crafts, Christmas sweets and gift items for sale, with proceeds going to local charities.

Hotel rates start at about $1,420 per night.

Royal Mansour, Rue Abou El Abbas Sebti, Marrakech, Morocco

Founded by Standard Oil Co. magnate Henry Morrison Flagler in 1896, The Breakers Palm Beach carries its lovely traditions right through the holiday season.

The oceanfront Italian Renaissance-style resort dazzles with sparkling lights, and holiday tea is available at HMF on December 20-23 and December 26-30 for $120 per person.

The Circle will host a buffet brunch on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ($285 per person; $100 for children 12 and younger). There’s also a Christmas Day buffet in the Ponce de Leon ballroom, and the resort’s Flagler Steakhouse will serve three-course, prix fixe menus on December 24 and 25.

There’s limited room availability in December with rates starting at $1,090.

The Breakers, One South County Road, Palm Beach, Florida

The Ritz Paris is putting on exactly what you’d expect from the elegant luxury property.

Christmas Tea is available at Bar Vendôme and Salon Proust, starting at about $75 per person with a hot beverage or about $95 with a glass of Champagne.

The Salon d’Eté will serve a lavish holiday brunch on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day for about $325 per person. The Ritz’s new restaurant Espadon is offering a next-level New Year’s Eve tasting menu for about $2,220 per person, including wine pairings.

Rates around Christmas start at about $2,300 a night.

Ritz Paris, 15 place Vendôme, Paris, France

Guests at Claridge’s will be treated to horse-drawn carriage rides and carol singing over Christmas.

Three-night Christmas packages feature those festive events, plus a personal Christmas tree, Champagne, a visit from Father Christmas, a Christmas lunch, stockings for all and a full English breakfast each day. (Pricing available upon request).

Festive afternoon tea, served through January 1, starts at about $130.

Claridge’s enlists celebrated designers each year to create an eye-catching lobby Christmas tree.

This year’s tree, from Louis Vuitton, is a sculptural creation situated within two large LV wardrobe trunks. Both Claridge’s and Louis Vuitton were founded in 1854.

Rooms start at about $1,060.

Claridge’s, Brook Street, Mayfair , London

Israeli officials obtained a document describing Hamas’ battle plan for its October 7 terror attack more than a year before the militant group carried out the assault, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing documents, emails and interviews. 

The roughly 40-page document did not give a date for the attack, but outlined “point by point” the kind of deadly incursion that Hamas carried out in Israeli territory in October, according to the Times, which reviewed the translated document.

Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan, assessing that it would be too difficult for Hamas to carry out, according to the Times.

The document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” detailed an assault that would overwhelm fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and target key military bases. It was followed with precision by Hamas on October 7, the Times said.

On that day, Hamas militants struck across the border from Gaza in a coordinated assault taking more than 200 hostages and killing around 1,200 people – the largest such attack on Israel since the country’s founding in 1948. 

The attack was widely seen a major Israeli intelligence failure, with a number of top defense and security officials coming forward in October to take responsibility to some extent for missteps that led to the attacks. 

Later that month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received sharp public criticism after he accused security chiefs in a later-deleted social media post of failing to warn him about the impending attack.

“On the contrary, all the defense officials … assessed that Hamas was deterred,” Netanyahu wrote at the time.

According to the Times, the “Jericho Wall” document was circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but it was unclear whether Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document.

CNN
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Here is a look at the life of Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic senator from New York and a former Democratic presidential candidate for 2020.

Birth date: December 9, 1966

Birth place: Albany, New York

Birth name: Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik

Father: Douglas Paul Rutnik, attorney and lobbyist

Mother: Polly (Noonan) Rutnik, attorney

Marriage: Jonathan Gillibrand

Children: Theodore and Henry

Education: Dartmouth College, A.B., 1988 (Asian studies); University of California, Los Angeles, J.D., 1991

Religion: Catholic

Her first name is pronounced “Keer-sten.”

Speaks Mandarin Chinese. She studied in Taiwan and China during her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth.

Has been a primary force behind legislation that would remove sexual assault allegations from the chain of command in the military, allowing a prosecutor, not the commander, to handle them.

Introduced a universal paid family leave bill every year between 2014-2019.

Was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition while in Congress.

Prior to her appointment to the Senate, she held conservative positions on gun control and immigration. She since has apologized and expressed remorse over her past record.

1991-2000 – Associate attorney at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. During her tenure with the law firm, she represented tobacco company Philip Morris.

2000 – Special counsel to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo.

2001-2005 – Works for the law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.

January 3, 2007-January 26, 2009 – Represents New York’s 20th Congressional District, a traditionally Republican area surrounding Albany. Gillibrand garnered 53% of the vote against four-term incumbent John Sweeney (R).

January 23, 2009 – Appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill Hillary Clinton’s US Senate seat in New York when Clinton is named Secretary of State. She resigns her House seat and is sworn as a US Senator three days later.

2010 – Wins the special primary election for her appointed NY Senate seat with 76% of the vote, defeating Gail Goode.

2012 – Is re-elected to the Senate with 72% of the vote.

September 9, 2014 – Her memoir, “Off the Sidelines,” is published.

November 15, 2017 – Announces a bill to reform how allegations of sexual misconduct by staff members in congressional offices are handled. The Congressional Harassment Reform Act of 2017 would make it easier for victims to speak out about their experiences and would require yearly sexual harassment trainings for all personnel.

December 6, 2017 – Is the first of 32 Democratic senators to call for the resignation of Al Franken after sexual harassment allegations against him are made public.

2018 – Is re-elected to the Senate with 67% of the vote.

January 16, 2019 – Announces she is forming an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential race.

March 11, 2019 – Gillibrand defends her handling of an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against a senior staffer in July 2018. The accuser told Gillibrand, her chief of staff Jess Fassler and general counsel Keith Castaldo that she was offering her resignation “because of how poorly the investigation and post-investigation was handled,” according to a letter obtained by CNN and first reported by Politico.

March 17, 2019 – Officially declares her Democratic candidacy for president via YouTube.

August 28, 2019 – Gillibrand announces she is ending her presidential campaign with a video posted on social media.

March 3, 2022 – Biden signs the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 into law after Gillibrand and other bipartisan lawmakers worked for more than four years to pass the largest workplace reform in decades. The law frees victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault to seek justice in court when they had previously been bound to a closed, often-secretive legal arbitration proceeding.

Here is a look at the life of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Birth date: March 26, 1930

Death date: December 1, 2023

Birth place: El Paso, Texas

Birth name: Sandra Day

Father: Harry A. Day, rancher

Mother: Ada Mae (Wilkey) Day, rancher

Marriage: John Jay O’Connor III (1952-2009, his death)

Children: Scott, Brian and Jay

Education: Stanford University, B.A. in Economics, 1950, graduated magna cum laude; Stanford Law School, LL.B, 1952

In law school, she was on the Stanford Law Review and third in her class.

Completed law school in two years.

A proponent of judicial restraint. At her confirmation hearings, she said, “Judges are not only not authorized to engage in executive or legislative functions, they are also ill-equipped to do so.”

In retirement, O’Connor has campaigned around the United States to abolish elections for judges, believing that a merit system leads to a more qualified and untainted judiciary.

1952-1953 – County deputy attorney in San Mateo, California.

1955-1957- Works as a civilian lawyer for the Quartermaster Corps in Germany, while her husband serves with the Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps.

1959 – Opens a law firm in Maryvale, Arizona.

1965-1969 – Assistant attorney general of Arizona.

1969 – Appointed to fill a vacant seat in the Arizona Senate.

1970 – Elected to the Arizona Senate.

1972 – Reelected to the Arizona Senate and elected majority leader. She is the first woman to hold this office in any state.

1975-1979 – Superior Court judge of Maricopa County.

1979-1981 – Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals.

August 19, 1981 – Formally nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, to fill the seat of retiring Justice Potter Stewart.

September 21, 1981 – Confirmed by the US Senate.

September 25, 1981 – Sworn in as the first female Supreme Court justice of the United States.

1982 – Writes an opinion invalidating a women-only enrollment policy at a Mississippi State nursing school because it “tends to perpetuate the stereotyped view of nursing as an exclusively women’s job.” Mississippi University for Women, et al., v. Hogan

October 21, 1988 – Has surgery for breast cancer after being diagnosed earlier in the year.

1996 – Writes the majority opinion in a 5-4 decision to restrict affirmative action policies and voting districts that are created to boost the political power of minorities. Shaw v. Reno

1999 – Writes the majority ruling opinion in a 5-4 decision that public school districts that receive federal funds can be held liable when they are “deliberately indifferent” to the sexual harassment of one student by another. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education

2000 – Votes with the majority in a 5-4 decision that strikes down state laws banning the medical procedure that critics call “partial-birth” abortion. Stenberg v. Carhart

December 2000 – Votes in the majority to end the recount in Florida which leads to George W. Bush becoming president of the United States. O’Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy are the only justices who do not attach their names to either a concurring or dissenting opinion in the case. Bush v. Gore

January 31, 2006 – Retires from the Supreme Court.

2008 – Develops the website, OurCourts which later becomes iCivics, a free program for students to learn about civics.

July 30, 2009 – Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

February 25, 2014 – Her book “Out Of Order,” which is based on the history of the Supreme Court, is published.

October 23, 2018 – Writes a letter revealing that she has been diagnosed with the “beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease.”

March 19, 2019 – The biography, “First: Sandra Day O’Connor,” is published.

July 19, 2019 – O’Connor’s former home is listed by the National Park Service in the National Register of Historic Places. The adobe house built by O’Connor and her husband in 1958 in Paradise Valley, Arizona, was relocated to Tempe, Arizona, in 2009. It is the home of the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute.

April 13, 2022 – President Joe Biden signs a bipartisan bill into law to erect statues of O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the grounds of the US Capitol. The legislation stipulates that the statues should be placed within two years of its enactment.

December 1, 2023 – Dies at age 93 from complications related to dementia.

CNN
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For nearly a decade, US Coast Guard leaders have concealed a critical report that exposed racism, hazing, discrimination and sexual assault across the agency.

The 2015 “Culture of Respect” study, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, documented how employees complained of a “boys will be boys” and “I got through it so can you” culture. Many said they feared they would be ostracized and retaliated against for reporting abuse and that those who did come forward often had their complaints dismissed by supervisors.

Some of the report’s core findings mirrored those of another secret investigation into rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard’s academy. The existence of that probe, which was dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor and completed in 2019, was revealed by CNN earlier this year. That investigation found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials, allowing alleged offenders to rise within the ranks of the Coast Guard and other military branches.

Following CNN’s stories on the Fouled Anchor investigation and subsequent Congressional outrage, the Coast Guard’s commandant, Linda Fagan, apologized to cadets and the workforce, and acknowledged that the Coast Guard needed to be more transparent to service members, Congress and the public about such matters.

“Trust and respect thrive in transparency but are shattered by silence,” she wrote.

But under her watch, the Coast Guard continued to keep the report hidden from the public even though she had been asked to release it long before the Fouled Anchor controversy unfolded this summer. And although the Culture of Respect study is more than eight years old, more than a dozen current and recent Coast Guard employees and academy cadets told CNN many of the problems that were identified continue to plague the agency.

In response to questions from CNN this week, a spokesman for Fagan said the commandant plans to make the report public next week as part of her “commitment to transparency,” alongside the findings from a 90-day internal study of sexual assault and harassment within the agency, prompted by the Fouled Anchor reporting.

Coast Guard officials further said in a statement that the Culture of Respect report was not originally intended to be released widely to the workforce, but rather was to be used by senior leaders to inform policy decisions. Officials, however, did not explain why Fagan had not found a way to release the report sooner, particularly since alleged victims or perpetrators were not named in the report.

The document has long been shrouded in secrecy. The copy of the report obtained by CNN states that it was to be stored in “a locked container or area offering sufficient protection against theft, compromise, inadvertent access and unauthorized disclosure.” It was to be distributed only to people on a “need to know basis” and should not be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, the report stated.

The study, which was conducted internally and included interviews from nearly 300 people from across the organization, highlighted concerns that “blatant sexual harassment of women” and hazing were regularly accepted as just part of the culture. Those accused of discrimination, assault and other misconduct, were allowed to “escape accountability and instead resign, retire, or transfer,” the report found, with some offenders getting rehired by the Coast Guard in civil service positions even after being forced to retire or otherwise leave military service. “We are allowing potentially dangerous members back into society with no punishment,” stated one employee. Others said leaders brushed serious problems ‘under the rug,” and that “senior leaders care about themselves and their careers” instead of “the folks that work for them.”

Authors of the report also noted a common concern among victims of misconduct, who said they believed coming forward would mean putting their careers on the line with little hope of their alleged perpetrators facing serious consequences. “Victims are ostracized, there is a stigma,” one person told interviewers. “No one believes them, no one helps them.”

Even seeking mental health treatment could prove risky, they said, with one interviewee bringing up how the Coast Guard could “involuntarily discharge” employees diagnosed with a mental health condition in the wake of an assault or other traumatic experience on the job.

Examples cited in the report reveal a culture in which service members faced pervasive assault, harassment, sexism, racism and other discrimination. In one case, multiple witnesses saw a supervisor striking a subordinate but nobody came forward to report it because of fear of retaliation.

Improving the Coast Guard’s culture would in some cases require “fundamentally different approaches,” the report concluded. The Coast Guard said this week it had enacted or partially enacted 60 of 129 recommendations, including additional training and additional support services for victims. Nine more are in the works, according to the Coast Guard’s statement agency, and the it “found better ways to achieve the desired result” for 20 others.

The original report had also recommended that a new review be conducted every four years, but that did not happen. The Coast Guard said other studies of the workforce culture have been conducted instead.

Recent government data and records, meanwhile, show that dangerous and discriminatory behavior is still rarely punished at the agency.

Almost half of female service members who reported a case of sexual harassment said the person they complained to took no action, according to a 2021 military survey. Nearly a third said they were punished for bringing up the harassment. Meanwhile, the vast majority of women who allegedly experienced “unwanted sexual contact” said they chose not to report it, often citing concerns about negative consequences or that the process wouldn’t be fair and that nothing would end up coming of their allegations.

Instead, records show how employees found to have committed serious wrongdoing have escaped court martial proceedings or military discharge. As a result, alleged perpetrators avoided criminal records and their retirement benefits were not affected.

A cadet at the Coast Guard Academy accused of sexual assault by two different classmates in the 2019-20 school year, for example, was kicked out of the academy but allowed to enlist in the Coast Guard to pay back the cost of the schooling he had received. Around the same time, a lieutenant commander was allowed to resign in lieu of going to trial for military crimes including sexual assault and drunk and disorderly conduct. Even when another officer was found guilty at a court martial of abusing his seniority to “obtain sexual favors with a subordinate,” he received only a letter of reprimand.

The Coast Guard did not comment on concerns that problems remain at the agency, or the statistics or examples cited by CNN.

The limited access to the Culture of Respect has been a topic of contention for years within the workforce and even Congress.

Fagan was asked about the report last year by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in a list of questions submitted as part of Congressional testimony. She criticized the agency for not releasing it publicly, saying this was “limiting the workforce and the public’s visibility into the problems that were identified and the recommended solutions.”

Watson Coleman also pushed Fagan, who took the helm of the Coast Guard in June of 2022, to commit to completing a new study and releasing it to the public this time, but Fagan did not directly answer the question – instead citing other recent studies.

More recently, Fagan was asked about releasing the report while attending a faculty meeting at the Coast Guard Academy. She was there following the Fouled Anchor debacle, promising more transparency when a captain who taught at the school called upon her to release the Culture of Respect report, according to multiple people who attended the meeting.

Retired Coast Guard Commander Kimberly Young-McLear, who is a Black lesbian woman, has been perhaps the most vocal in requesting that the report be released.

Her efforts to get the report disseminated stem from her own complaints about “severe and pervasive bullying, harassing, and discriminating behavior” based on her race, gender, sexual orientation and advocacy for equal opportunity in the Coast Guard.

After filing a whistleblower complaint in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General found that she had indeed faced unlawful retaliation. Yet to this day, none of the accused service members from her case have faced any consequences. Young-McLear said she has never received a written apology from Coast Guard leaders despite requests from Congress, and that the years of harassment and lack of accountability have taken a significant mental toll on her.

She said she learned about the existence of the Culture of Respect report while she worked at the Coast Guard’s academy and that she was able to read it when she attended a small summit discussing its findings in 2019. She was outraged when she saw that it exposed the same issues she had reported.

“Had the Coast Guard actually taken the 2015 Culture of Respect report results seriously… then perhaps the years of bullying, harassment, intimidation, and retaliation I endured could have been prevented altogether,” Young-McLear said in Congressional testimony at 2021 hearing on diversity and accountability within the Coast Guard, questioning why the report still hadn’t been made public.

In the last four years, Young-McLear said she has asked for the report to be released more than two dozen times, to various admirals and to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard. A handful of other academy employees have made similar pleas at faculty meetings with the school’s superintendent, she said. “We’ve been saying it until we’ve been blue in the face.”

The Coast Guard’s secrecy and inaction, she says, speak to the very same issues the Culture of Respect report and other examinations have repeatedly raised and show that the agency has failed to hold itself to task in the same way perpetrators have been let off the hook.

“If we don’t hold individuals and institutions accountable,” said Young-McLear, “it is providing a safe haven for abusers and allowing them to rise through the ranks.”

Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email [email protected] and [email protected].

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers argued in court Friday that his Georgia election subversion indictment should be thrown out because it “violates free speech,” and that if he wins the 2024 election, the trial would need to be postponed anyway, until he completes his second presidential term.

They made the comments at an all-day hearing in Atlanta that featured arguments from attorneys for some of the other 14 defendants beyond Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee held the hearing to address a slew of pretrial motions about the potential trial date, attempts to dismiss the charges and discovery matters.

McAfee did not issue any rulings from the bench during the roughly six-hour hearing.

This was the first in-court appearance for Trump’s legal team in the Georgia case, where he and 14 others are facing a bevy of state charges, including racketeering or RICO, for their attempts to overturn the 2020 election. They have pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s team argued that the indictment, filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, essentially criminalizes political activity that is protected by the First Amendment.

“You take the facts as alleged in the indictment… as applied constitutionally with the First Amendment, you’ll find that it violates free speech, freedom of petitioning, all the expressions that the First Amendment is designed to protect, and therefore the indictment needs to be dismissed,” Trump lawyer Steven Sadow told the judge.

If the case survives the motions to dismiss from Trump and others, Willis hopes to hold one large trial with all 15 remaining defendants. A trial date hasn’t been set yet, but state prosecutors said they still want it to begin in August 2024, which Trump opposes.

“It’s very possible at that time, that my client will be running for election for president of the United States for the Republican Party,” Sadow said, adding that “the preference would be that he not be on trial during the time that he is campaigning.”

At one point, McAfee asked Sadow what would happen to the case if Trump wins the 2024 election and the trial hasn’t happened yet. The question illuminates the unprecedented challenges McAfee – and the nation – are grappling with: That the leading candidate for next year’s GOP nomination is under indictment in four cases.

“Under the Supremacy Clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office,” Sadow replied.

Fulton County prosecutors pushed back against Sadow’s claims that the indictment is an attempt to interfere in the 2024 election and undermine Trump’s chances of winning. Trump has claimed Willis, a Democrat, brought the case due to anti-Republican bias.

Prosecutor Nathan Wade said Willis “has no interest in interfering or getting involved in this presidential election” and that “her sole purpose is to move this case forward.”