Simone Biles: USA Gymnastics 'Enabled and Perpetrated' Larry Nassar Abuse
Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports
Simone Biles was among the U.S. gymnasts to provide testimony Wednesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on sexual abuse allegations against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
Biles was joined in Washington, D.C. by McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman. The four American gymnasts are among the hundreds of women who say they were sexually abused by Nassar, who worked as a doctor for USA Gymnastics from 1978 to 2016. Nassar is currently serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted on sexual assault and child pornography charges.
Wednesday's hearing serves to investigate the FBI's mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar. A July report from the Department of Justice concluded the FBI showed "extremely poor judgement" in the handling of 2015 allegations against Nassar, noting that FBI agents in Indianapolis made "materially false statements," during interviews with federal officials. The false statements were reportedly made in an effort to "minimize errors made by the Indianapolis Field Office."
Biles criticized both USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee during Wednesday's testimony.
“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” Biles said. "The scars of this horrific abuse continue. The impact of this man's abuse will never be over.
"We have been failed and we deserve answers. It really feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us."
Maroney discussed her 2015 conversation with the FBI on Wednesday, in which she detailed accounts of her own sexual abuse. Maroney's call with the FBI was not documented for more than a year, and Maroney said Wednesday the eventual report "made entirely false claims."
"Not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said," Maroney stated Wednesday.
Michael Langeman, an FBI agent who interviewed Maroney in 2015, was fired Tuesday, per The Washington Post.
