He's autistic and he probably has trouble with communication. He might not know that it's a terrible idea to quibble about why his preferred definition of assault is better than the commonly accepted and used definition.

Surely an autistic person is still capable of learning these things.

If he is not capable of that, then he’s disastrously unqualified to be leading an advocacy organization.

I'm not defending him.

>He's autistic and he probably has trouble with communication.

His job is communication. His eloquence, and the precision of his language have been praised more than once here.

And autism doesn't come with a "get out of social consequences" card. Certainly not for a sixty year old man.

> And autism doesn't come with a "get out of social consequences" card.

I agree.

Not grammar, the connotations of the phrase "sexual assault". I don't think it's a cop out, I think it's clearly literally the case.