The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently hearing testimony from Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Maggie Nichols as witnesses to the sexual abuse committed by former U.S. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after being found guilty of decades of child sexual abuse in his medical capacity. The female athletes testified before the committee on the negligence by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in failing to take action against Nassar.
Young athletes suffered needlessly because multiple agents in multiple offices at the @FBI neglected to share the Nassar allegations with their law enforcement counterparts at state and local agencies.
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 15, 2021
Brave survivors, now poised young women, are with us today in the committee. pic.twitter.com/OteGg9tiTp
Republican and Democratic members of the committee criticized the FBI’s negligence.
.@ChuckGrassley: “I look forward to hearing from the young women who were the first to bravely come forward and share their experiences of abuse. I also hope to hear from our government witnesses on how to improve the FBI’s approach in child exploitation cases.” pic.twitter.com/0oDgQZCh2f
— Sen. Grassley Press (@GrassleyPress) September 15, 2021
At senate judiciary hearing where Simone Biles, Minnesotan Maggie Nichols and other star gymnasts are once again leading with courage by testifying about what Larry Nassar did to them to make sure nothing like it ever happens again.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) September 15, 2021
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Larry Nassar’s evil abuse was enabled by the complacency of the FBI. We cannot protect the next generation of women and girls if we do not fully expose the FBI's failure to implement justice. pic.twitter.com/XqPHg8fuIc
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) September 15, 2021
Cases like these make clear that sexual abuse of young athletes is a persistent problem that teams, athletic associations, and other institutions are failing to prevent. It shocks the conscience when those failures come from law enforcement itself—yet that is what happened here. https://t.co/VGTyXVDA6j
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) September 15, 2021
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the agency's failure, that happened under disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, is "unacceptable."
FBI director Christopher Wray: "I want to be crystal clear: the actions and inaction of the FBI employees details in this report are totally unacceptable... they failed to protect young women and girls from abuse." https://t.co/tIYjzrXm52 pic.twitter.com/aciiyx0KCs
— ABC News (@ABC) September 15, 2021
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