Lawyer who highlighted Hillary Clinton’s role in defending rape suspect tapped for key federal civil rights post
Then-candidate Donald Trump sits with Kathy Shelton, right, and Juanita Broaddrick in a hotel conference room in St. Louis shortly before the second presidential debate on Oct. 9, 2016. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
Candice E. Jackson, who aided Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign by highlighting Hillary Clinton’s role in defending a man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl, has been tapped for a key civil rights position at the Education Department, according to her alma mater.
A report from Pepperdine University’s law school, from which Jackson earned a degree in 2002, said Jackson will serve as acting assistant secretary for civil rights. If the report is true, she would temporarily be in charge of the office responsible for enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws in schools, including their handling of campus sexual assault. She also has been hired as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights, according to the university report.
Jackson, a lawyer in Vancouver, announced on her personal website that she has taken a position with Trump’s Education Department. Reached by phone, she said she could not comment on what she hopes to accomplish in the job because she does not officially start for a week.
Asked to confirm Jackson’s appointment, an Education Department spokesman declined to comment and a White House spokesman said there were no new personnel announcements.
Under President Barack Obama, the Office for Civil Rights’ aggressive investigations of complaints — and its guidance to schools on issues such as sexual violence and transgender student accommodations — made it a champion of the left and a target of the right. Civil rights advocates, worried that Trump might shrink the office, have been watching closely to see who is tapped to lead it.
Jackson is the author of the 2005 book “Their Lives: Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine,” which detailed the stories of women such as Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey Lawyer who highlighted Hillary Clinton’s role in defending rape suspect tapped for key federal civil rights post - The Washington Post:
