Larry Nassar hearing: Senate hearing findings on FBI’s failure to investigate charges against gymnasts

Here are the main takeaways from the audience:

Gymnasts revealed new details of how FBI botched investigation

The gymnasts gave new insight into how the FBI mishandled their allegations, with accounts of what exactly they told the FBI and how they had to work to make their allegations heard.

It was 14 months after reporting her allegations that Raisman was finally able to speak to the FBI, she said, despite repeating her interview requests.

USA Gymnastics director Steve Penny arranged the interview at the Olympic Training Center, said Raisman, “where I was under the control and observation of USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. .. “

“On the day of my interview Steve Penny flew to the Olympic training center and made sure I knew he was there,” she said.

She said she also came under pressure from the FBI to accept a proposed plea deal for Nassar.

“The officer diminished the significance of my abuse. It made me feel that my criminal case was not worth pursuing,” Raisman said.

Gymnasts are still haunted by how the FBI botched the case

Gymnasts are still grappling with the lasting effects of the FBI’s mismanagement of their allegations.

Maroney, recounting her 2015 interview, described how the agent who interviewed her remained “dead silent” as she began to cry on the phone.

“I was so shocked by the officer’s silence and his disregard for my trauma. After that minute of silence, he asked: “Is that all? “Maroney recalls.” Those words, in and of themselves, were one of the worst moments in this whole process, for my abuse to be minimized and ignored by the people who were supposed to protect me. ”

Raisman, meanwhile, recalled how an FBI agent “made me feel that my abuse didn’t matter and it didn’t matter.”

“And I remember sitting there with the FBI agent and him, trying to convince me it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “And it took me years of therapy to realize that my abuse was bad, that it matters.”

“I can’t tell you how horrible it is to meet young girls who admire me, who watch me compete in the Olympics, and tell me that they went to see Nassar, because of me and my teammates, because they wanted to see the Olympic doctor, ”Raisman said.

Gymnasts and lawmakers enraged by DOJ’s refusal to prosecute FBI agents

The Justice Department’s decision not to indict two former FBI employees who were referred by the department’s inspector general for potential prosecution has left gymnasts and lawmakers angry.

“Why?” Maroney urged, while criticizing Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco for refusing a request to testify at Wednesday’s hearing.

“A message needs to be sent: If you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be quick and severe. Enough is enough,” Biles said.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz later noted during the hearing that the false information an officer is accused of including in a 2017 summary he wrote of his interview with Maroney in 2015 could have jeopardized the criminal case against Nassar. Additionally, this agent and the other employee violated multiple FBI protocols, resulting in a months-long delay in the investigation, in which Nassar abused some 70 athletes, according to the report.

Lawmakers criticized the Justice Department both for its refusal to prosecute these people and for the way it rejected their request that senior department officials testify to the decision.

“The American people and these victims of sexual assault are made to wonder if their claims are really taken seriously, if there is simply a refusal by the Department of Justice to prosecute, and no real will to come and explain the reason of that or why there is no accountability where accountability can be had, ”said Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Monaco are expected to appear before the committee in October.

Questions remain about the FBI’s intimate relationship with USA Gymnastics

The gymnasts stressed the need for more investigatioNTo Understand the relationship between the failures of the FBI and how its agents interacted with gymnastics organizations that ignored Nassar’s abuses.

As the IG reports, FBI agents and USA Gymnastics discussed the organization’s response to media reports of the allegations. Abbott also offered an FBI statement that would put USA Gymnastics in a positive light, according to the IG. And he chatted with Penny, then head of USA Gymnastics, about the possibility that he could get a job with the US Olympic Committee. Abbott also considered applying to be the head of USA Gymnastics, according to the report.

Nichols – a former US team for the world championships whose allegations were among those brought to the FBI in 2015 – referred to the aspirations of Abbott USA Gymnastics as she ticked off questions that had yet to be answered. received response on FBI failures.

“Larry Nassar survivors have a right to know why their well-being has been endangered by these individuals who have chosen not to do their jobs,” Nichols said.

Gymnasts have failed at all levels of organizations meant to protect them

What the testimony of the gymnasts made clear was that several people – both in the sport and in federal law enforcement – were aware of the allegations against Nassar and yet did not act for it. Stop.

“It is amazing and disturbing how many adults have let you down and failed at one of the most basic responsibilities of adulthood, which is looking after children,” said Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Biles recalled being left in the dark before the 2016 Olympics that there had been investigations into the allegations. For a while, she was also unaware that a senior USA Gymnastics official was informed by Nichols in 2015 that Biles was also likely a victim.

Maroney accused the FBI of working “in concert” with sports organizations to “cover up” that Nassar was a predator.

“By not immediately following up on my report, they allowed a child molester to be released for over a year,” she said, “and this inaction directly allowed Nasser’s abuse to Continue.”

Raisman said it was “horrible” to know the victims who could have been spared from abuse if their allegations had been dealt with properly.

“All we needed was an adult to do the right thing,” Raisman said.

Wray was limited in his ability in front of the Senate to contain damage

In the face of calls to prosecute individual agents, Wray had to repeatedly tell lawmakers that it was not his call, but that of the Department of Justice.

“I did what I could do,” he said.

Wray was not the director of the FBI when the failures occurred, and he said he was “heartbroken and furious” once he learned of the extent of the agency’s failures.

His testimony nonetheless made a fine line in describing the actions of individuals as “unacceptable” while claiming that they did not reflect the agency as a whole.

“I want to make sure the public knows that the misconduct reflected in this report is not representative of the work I see from our 37,000 people every day. The actions, instead, of the officers described in this report are a discredit to all those men and women who do the job right, ”Wray said.

While he described several policy changes – such as new training requirements – that the FBI had made to avoid similar failures, lawmakers expressed skepticism that this would suffice.

“You don’t change hearts and minds because someone is going through this kind of training,” said Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii.