Women Sue For Discrimination at FBI Academy
HARLOW: All right. Important story. Sexual harassment, harsher scrutiny, a hostile work environment, that is how the more -- how more than a dozen women are describing conditions at the FBI's training academy at Quantico. Now those women are suing the agency for gender discrimination. They say the disadvantages are a result of the good old boy network at the facility.</s>SCIUTTO: So in response, the FBI has released a statement saying the following in part, while we are unable to comment on litigation, the FBI is committed to fostering a work environment where all of our employees are valued and respected. Right now we are joined by the attorney representing the women in the case, David Shaffer, as well as two of the plaintiffs. They are Clare Coetzer and Ava -- and we're now going to share Ava's last name, that at the request of her attorney for both legal and safety reasons. Clare and Ava, thanks in particular to you for coming here and talking about this in public. Clare, if I could begin with you. You're a licensed social worker. You attended the FBI's training academy last year. You were dismissed after getting four demerits, according to the FBI, given a warning that the FBI calls a suitability notice. You allege you were given fewer opportunities to succeed by the FBI. Tell us about your experience at the academy.</s>CLARE COETZER, PLAINTIFF IN DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST FBI TRAINING ACADEMY: So when I began the academy, the first about four months were absolutely fine as far as training. I passed all 11 of the required performance tests. That included firearms, fitness, defensive tactics, legal, academic, you made it. You know, first time, no issues whatsoever. And then I get to the tactical training portion, and suddenly I'm realizing that I'm being very singled out by my tactics instructor, Paul Haren (ph). He would pull me aside very frequently during exercises and give me very vague feedback. He would say things like, you're on the bubble. You are behind the curve. And he wouldn't give me any constructive feedback or anything specific whatsoever. And then a specific example is when myself and a male classmate went to go meet with him, voluntarily with my instructor, to, you know, discuss progress and how to improve. I was told that there was nothing I could do to improve. And he looked to my male classmate in front of me and he said, so you have four suitability notations, is that correct? And my classmate said, yes, sir. And Paul Haren told him, you're going to be fine, keep working fine. And then he excused him. And then he turned to me and he said, Clare, you have four suitability notations, is that correct? And I said, yes, sir. And he said, I'm not going to lie, that's a lot and people don't frequently graduate with four suitability notations.</s>HARLOW: So in response to all of this, guys, the FBI won't comment on the lawsuit. I know we noted that at the outset. They say they're committed to fostering a work environment where all employees are valued and respected. That's not what you both say you experienced. And, Ava, to you, you know, this lawsuit talks about passive tolerance, right, of this, and it being sort of systemic within the FBI. Can you give us a sense of just the toll that it took on you?</s>AVA, PLAINTIFF IN DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST FBI TRAINING ACADEMY: I mean it took an extreme emotional toll on me. A lot of my experience there was actually sexually harassment based and retaliation both from instructors, the unit chief, Kelly Holland (ph), even blamed me for this attention. She told me I was nothing but a distraction to her agents. That my entire personality was a character flaw and that I just wasn't cut out for the FBI, even though the day I was dismissed, my picture was still hanging on the wall for having perfect marks.</s>SCIUTTO: Good to see. And, to be clear, you say retaliatory in what sense?</s>AVA: For instance, I had been told by a few of my close friends who were also trainees there that instructor Charles Rowe (ph) would repeatedly inquire and talk about my personal life, my marital status, my sex life, and eventually I very politely approached him about it and, you know, kind of asked and said, you know, could these things please be kept private? And he, you know, to my face said, absolutely I did not in any way bring those things up. And then about a week or ten days later, I received a suitability for challenging him. And that suitability even included things like, I had my hands in my pockets, which meant that I had an attitude.</s>HARLOW: Obviously, you have both named individuals. We don't have them on the show to respond or to defend themselves, but they are welcome to join us at a later date if they -- if they would like to respond. David, to you as the attorney, one thing I found interesting in the reporting on this is that apparently you went to the FBI twice, asked them to sit down with you to talk about your clients before you filed this lawsuit, is that right?</s>DAVID SHAFFER, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING FEMALE FBI TRAINEES IN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: That's correct. I asked them twice to sit down and discuss these issues short of litigation, and I was ignored. And the only response I got was, thank you for your inquiry. And I also heard from a woman this morning who notified the inspector general about this conduct as early as 2001. And our clients notified the director, Director Comey, again, in 2015. He also did nothing about it and denied it existed.</s>HARLOW: And CNN has reached out to Director Comey. We haven't heard back yet on the allegations in this lawsuit. Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, David, thanks to you. And Clare and Ava, we know it can be difficult to come out and make allegations like this in public.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: With possible consequences. We appreciate you sharing your story with us. Thanks to all of you as well. We'll be right back.</s>SHAFFER: Thank you.