training camp, where multiple gymnasts say nassar assaulted them. coaches bela and martha karolyi say they knew nothing of the abuse. former olympic gymnast tasha schwikert is now speaking out for the first time, saying she too was abused by nassar at the ranch, and that penny pressed her to publicly support usa gymnastics at the height of the scandal. steve, you know, had always manipulated all of us, really, but i felt indebted to him. him and usa gymnastics made me feel like if it wasn t for them, like, i wouldn t be the person or the athlete who i was. reporter: when more than 150 accusers spoke at nassar s sentencing, gymnast lindsey lemke took direct aim at penny. steve penny, you are a coward. resigning from your position to give responsibility for someone else for creating the environment to let this monster thrive. so, let s get to linsey davis now. what is steve penny saying, if anything at all, tonight? reporter: david, he is saying when the facts are known, it wil
there is more heavy rain on the way. every drop is bad news for people here and in flood-prone areas. a flash flood watch remains in effect through tomorrow morning. david? all right, victor oquendo in austin. thank you, victor. a major new arrest in the usa gymnastics scandal tonight. the organization s former president was arrested at a cabin in tennessee overnight, more than a year after he resigned. tonight, months after he pleaded the fifth in front of congress and the country, what he s now accused of doing. here s abc s linsey davis. reporter: tonight, the former head of usa gymnastics is behind bars. steve penny arrested overnight by u.s. marshals at a tennessee cabin. he s accused of tampering with evidence in the investigation of disgraced olympic doctor larry nassar. i ve been instructed by my attorney to assert my rights under the fifth amendment. reporter: penny refused to answer questions before congress and resigned in the wake of the scandal, saying it was hea
jean, let s begin with this fbi part of all of this. what are you learning? reporter: you know, it s interesting. to go along with the new york times reporting, it is strikingly similar to cnn s reporting. earlier this year, i interviewed gina nickels, as well as her husband, dr. john nickels, in record to their daughter, maddie nickels, who was virtually the whistleblower in the nassar scandal. she was the one that had told her teammates at the karolyi ranch what nassar was doing to her. what happened was that steve penny, then president of usa gymnastics, called gina nickels to say that, don t say anything to anyone, but we re going to go to law enforcement. listen to dr. john nickels. he was privy to that conversation. well, the way it was presented to me was, he penny gave the message that he s contacting the fbi and the fbi is undergoing this
cannot get it wrong again. you said their goal should be to protect their athletes. i want to read this facebook post about what she thinks is now justice, the idea that this former president of the usa gymnastics, the head of it, has been arrested. she wrote, steve penny has been detained for charges related to tampering with the larry nassar investigation. this is for every little girl who could have been saved from larry and for every coach that penny received warnings about and did nothing. may justice continue to be done. that s the feeling today, christine, of some of the athletes. that is true. and steve penny of course was the ceo for many years and the allegations are incredibly troubling. he s been arrested and the idea of evidence tampering and taking files out of the ranch where they all train before the authorities showed up. the tentacles are deep. it looks like they are getting to the people who did these terrible things and the leaders
subpoenaed the buffalo diocese seeking information about pornography and taking victims across state lines and inappropriate use of cell phones and social media. the former president of usa gymnastics discussed a possible job offer with the fbi agent investigating dr. larry nassar. steve penny talked with agent jay abbott about a top security job at the u.s. olympic committee. his lawyer said he did not think his client was on the nassar case. penny e-mailed fbi employees to see how to word statements on the investigation. penny was arrested wednesday in the nassar probe. and florida governor rick scott making sure voters in eight counties can cast ballots in the midterms. signing an executive order to let supervisors to extend the early voting days and locations.