Famous Olympic gymnast Simone Biles testified on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which assassinated the “whole system” that she said allowed the disgraced Olympic doctor Larry Nassar to sexually abuse her and hundreds of ‘other young women and girls.
“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that allowed and perpetrated his abuse,” Biles said as he battled tears during the Senate hearing on the mishandling of allegations. sexual abuse against Nassar by the FBI.
Biles said USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew she was being mistreated by the doctor on her official team, and yet they did nothing.
Then, in July, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a bombshell report detailing the FBI’s impressive failures to properly investigate allegations against Nassar. While senior officials from the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis sat on his hands, more than 70 athletes continued to be abused, according to the report. Investigators lied when they faced those failures to act urgently.
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Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols are expected to testify during the Senate hearing.
Saul Loeb / Pool / Getty
Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics this summer after retiring from most of the Games, citing mental anguish. Three other star gymnasts testified Wednesday: McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols, who were identified as “Athlete A,” the first person to file claims against Nassar in the summer of 2015, citing abuses that began when he was 15 years and caused back pain.
Raisman said the trauma of presenting with allegations of abuse was so severe that he often struggled with basic tasks.
“I didn’t even have the energy to stand up in the shower,” Raisman said. “I would have to sit on the floor and wash my hair because standing up was too exhausting for me.”
“I’m 27 and my 80-year-old grandfather has more energy than I do,” he added.
In a heated testimony, Maroney said he was surprised when he learned that the FBI had not finished fully investigating his allegations of abuse. When officers documented his allegations more than a year later, they had fabricated their own narrative and made “completely false statements” about what he said during an interview, he said.
“They chose to lie about what I said and protect a child abuser instead of protecting not just me but countless others,” Maroney said.
“What sense does it make to report abuse if our own FBI agents are tasked with burying this report in a drawer,” he added. “They had legal and legitimate evidence of child abuse and did nothing.”
She said FBI agents tried to convince her that Nassar’s abuse was not so bad, describing a phone interview with an agent who showed little consideration for her claims. After disclosing that Nassar had digitally penetrated him in treatments that did nothing to improve his wounds, there was a period of reckless silence before the officer said, “Is that all?”
The Washington Post She reported Tuesday afternoon that the FBI had fired Michael Langeman, a special surveillance agent at the local Indianapolis office who was accused of properly investigating Maroney’s allegations after interviewing her in 2015.
Horowitz’s July report, although he did not directly name Langeman, struck him as both he and the former head of the FBI’s Indianapolis office, W. Jay Abbott, for mishandling the allegations and then having lied to investigators.
According to the report, Abbott had been looking at a job with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and discussed it with Steve Penny, who at the time was the president of USA Gymnastics.
Raisman, who said he felt pressured by the FBI to consent to Nassar’s plea deal, criticized senior Olympic officials and FBI agents who “diminished” their allegations of abuse.
He expressed displeasure for Penny and others, who said they were able to retire or resign “without explanation,” effectively rewarding them for their failures in protecting children.