ABC News- The Marine Corps has removed the general officer in charge of Marine and Family Programs – Brig. Gen. Kurt Stein – for making inappropriate public comments about an ongoing sexual harassment investigation.
Stein described articles about the investigation as “fake news” and joked about a Navy chaplain recently removed from duty for sexual misconduct, a defense official familiar with the investigation said.
It was during an April 6 town hall that he described press reports about a sexual harassment investigation at his command as “fake news,” the defense official familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
According to a statement from one witness at the town hall, Stein’s remarks on sexual harassment allegations referred to two civilian employees whose complaints against other employees in the command, dating back more than a year, are under investigation, the defense official said.
The official said Stein also joked about a Navy chaplain who had recently been fired from his post in New Orleans for sexual misconduct, saying that “aviators should live vicariously through the chaplain’s ‘actions’ and that “chaplains are getting more ‘action’ than aviators.”