Congressional candidate claims Democratic opponent ‘illegally obtained documents’ about sex assault

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GOP congressional candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green is irate after giving an interview with Politico, saying the magazine published details about her sexual assault while she was serving in the military without permission.

Green, the Republican candidate running for Indiana‘s predominantly Democrat 1st Congressional District, has since alleged that her opponent, Rep. Frank Mrvan ‘illegally’ obtained the information, and offered it to the outlet.

Politico, meanwhile, insists that it obtained the information legally, ‘by a public records request and provided to Politico by a person outside the Mrvan campaign.’

The report, published last week, revealed that Green, while serving as a counterintelligence agent in Iraq, was assaulted by ‘an Iraqi serviceman’ who grabbed her breasts and exposed himself when she and a group of other officers visited the Air Force’s national training center in Fort Irwin, California.

Furthermore, the outlet wrote that after the assault, Green was told to keep quiet about the incident by her superiors.

Green has since written a letter to the relevant U.S. attorney, the Air Force Inspector General, and the Department of Defense asking for a criminal investigation into how the documents were obtained and ultimately provided to Politico.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Green slammed the article, published on Friday, as an ‘ugly smear piece’ intended to paint her as ‘a disgraced military officer.’

The relative political newcomer, who was born in Indiana, added that she refuses to allow Mrvan to ‘get the play that he wants’ with the article – asserting that she won’t be ‘silenced’ and that she represents other sexual assault survivors. 

She has since alleged that her opponent in the upcoming election for Indiana's congressional 1st district, Rep. Frank Mrvan, 'illegally' obtained the information, and offered it to the outlet

She has since alleged that her opponent in the upcoming election for Indiana’s congressional 1st district, Rep. Frank Mrvan, ‘illegally’ obtained the information, and offered it to the outlet

The pair are set to face off in a highly anticipated election on November 8, with the winner poised to take over a district that has voted Democratic for nearly a century. 

‘I believe Congressman Frank Mrvan illegally obtained those documents and was floating them around to press,’ Green said of the military records that detailed the supposed assault, which transpired in 2009.

 ‘That’s what our political team told us, that they were farming it out to several different press outlets to see who could write a very disgusting, ugly smear piece against me with the intent to paint me as a disgraced military officer.’

Green further questioned the seemingly convenient timing of the documents being made public. 

‘Congressman Mrvan and his cronies were definitely responsible for this, and he’s going to try to deny it in every way possible,’ she said in the remote interview.

‘I’m going to stand up not only for me, but I’m going to stand up for every other survivor, every other vet, every other woman.’

She added: ‘I’m not going to let Congressman Frank Mrvan do this… I’m just done with it.’

Despite the trauma of having the incident shared with the greater public, Green, who served in the military for more than six years before joining the national guard, says she will continue to strive to win the upcoming election.  

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‘I don’t care what happens on Nov. 8. If you need me, I am here, and I will help you,’ Green said. 

Green also recalled the horror of the now public assault, which came during a visit to the national training center where she left the group to climb into a guard tower where she came across the Iraqi serviceman.

‘The reality of it is,’ she said, ‘like I said at one point in my life to my assailant: “No. Please stop. Don’t.” – and he did what he wanted to do.’

Despite the trauma of having the incident shared with the greater public, Green, who served in the military for more than six years before joining the national guard, says she will continue to strive to win the upcoming election

Despite the trauma of having the incident shared with the greater public, Green, who served in the military for more than six years before joining the national guard, says she will continue to strive to win the upcoming election

She went on to equate Mrvan and reporter Adam Wren’s alleged action to the assault itself.

‘This is the exact same situation all over again, all because there was a man who wanted some sort of gratification,’ Green said.

‘Congressman Frank Mrvan gets his gratification of trying to think he’s smearing my name. Adam Wren gets his gratification of thinking he’s going to get a good smear story out of it. And all it does is essentially reopen wounds for victims.’

After the face, Green said she was advised not to report the assault by a staff sergeant, who was also a military equal opportunity representative. 

He allegedly told her the Air Force’s reasoning behind keeping the incident under wraps: ‘If American leadership complained to Iraqi leadership, they would continue to see women as liabilities and limit their ability to serve.’

Brass at Politico, meanwhile, is adamant that they obtained the information legally, without any aid from Mrvan.

In her letter earlier this month, however, Green reportedly was adamant that she ‘did not consent, in writing or otherwise, to the disclosure of my personnel file to Politico or anyone else.’ 

She also pointed to the Privacy Act of 1974 as proof that her file should not have been released.

The aspiring congresswoman wrote: ‘Coming as when it does – in the closing weeks of my campaign for Congress – makes me believe that this is a politically motivated attempt to impact the upcoming election.’  

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