[indistinct conversations] the predator who abused hundreds of young women before he was charged and convicted in 2017. Almost five years ago, exactly on september 12, 2016, the Indianapolis Star broke the story of larry nassars sexual assaults. The story blew the whistle on decades of his abuse. Unbeknownst to the public at that time, the federal bureau of investigation had received information about his conduct 15 months, 15 months prior to the article. It failed to take any actions to protect the victims or investigate abuses. Since then, numerous assaults have been highlighted in athletes special vulnerability. An article published in the Chicago Tribune spotlighted the coach who pled guilty to sexual contact with the high School Student he was coaching. Cases like these make clear that sexual abuse of young athletes is a persistent problem. The teams leagues athletic association and other associations are failing to prevent. It shocks the conscience and those failures come from Law Enforcement itself. And yet, that is exactly what happened in the nasard case. For decorate larry Nassar Case. For decades, while he worked as Team Dr. For organizations, he abused young athletes under the guise of medical treatments. He used his trusted position to take advantage of his patients. He used the competitive nature of sports to hide in plain sight. By the time nassar was convicted and sentenced in federal and michigan state court, over 150 survivors had come forward to recount the impact of these horrific crimes. Today, we believe nassar abused more than 300 athletes before he was brought to justice. As the details of nassars crimes occurs, there has been a consistency of neglect from those who were responsible of protecting the athletes. Between 2018 and 2019, the committee led by our colleagues, Senator Richard Bloomfield and Senator Jerry Morel conducted an 18 Month Investigation into the case. The investigation concluded that the u. S. Olympic Committee And Usa gymnastics knowingly concealed abuse by nassar between the summer of 2015 in september of 2016. The senate passed two bills aimed at addressing the failures of the Nassar Case with overwhelming bipartisan support and protect the young victims from abuse. The act of 2017 feinstein, and the paralympic amateur athletes active 2020 by Senators Moran and blumenthal extended the duties of certain adults to report suspected Child Abuse. These are good and important steps. But the Reporting Requirement in both laws is not worth much if Law Enforcement and the fbi failed to respond immediately and aggressively and investigate the abuse cases. Thats exactly what happened in the Nassar Case. The Inspector General findings in the July Report paint a shocking picture of Fbi Dereliction of duty and gross incompetence. The Inspector Generals scathing report details the Neglect And Inaction of the fbi and inspecting the nassar allegations, beginning in july of 2015, 15 months before it was reported. The facts reported by the Inspector General, exposed with apathetic and competent seeing fbi Officials Period in the 15 month timeframe that fbi Officials Shirt their responsibility, nassar abused at least 70 young athletes. For many of them, this is a continuation. For others, they were abused for the first time while the fbi sat on the case. The fbi waited weeks for the initial report to undertake any investigative activity. The fbi failed to timely interview key witnesses. The fbi failed to properly document witness statements and store evidence. The fbi failed to inform state and local authorities of nassar s abuse and believe it did not fall within federal jurisdiction. One senior Fbi Official went so far as to seek a job with usa Gymnastics Ceo at the same time he was overseeing the fbis failed investigative effort. And then, to add insult to injury, the Fbis Supervisor doctored the paperwork, misled the media and lied to the Inspector General in an effort to conceal their dereliction of duty. Some may be tempted to minimize this misconduct as a fall of a few bad apples. Make no mistake, agree just failures like these do not arise out of nowhere. They are enabled by systematic organizational failures of training, supervision, hiring and promotion. I am committing to accountable and provide justice to the survivors. I know many of my colleagues feel exactly the same. Today, our focus is on the fbi. How did it fail so badly when it came to larry nassars victims . What are the fbi Leaders Today ensuring this will never happen again . Fortunate to hear today from four outstanding witnesses who survived larry Nassers Abuse. Day and the hundreds of athletes who also suffered at the hands of nasser deserve much better from everyone including the fbi. We will also hear from the Inspector General and the fbi director. They owe these young women and nation to ensure this never happens again. I will add that i am disappointed. I asked the Justice Department to testify about their decision not to prosecute the two Fbi Officials who made false statements to the ig. I understand its a longstanding Department Policy not to comment on decisions and not prosecute but robust oversight of the department of justice is a Core Responsibility of this committee. I am committed to ensuring that committee members have an opportunity to question the department of justice about this issue at an Oversight Hearing in the fall. The Fbis Handling of the Nasser Case is a stain on the bureau. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, im working to ensure the failures of the fbi, the gross failures in this case will never be repeated. I recognize ranking Member Grassley. Thank you Chairman Durbin for a very strong and appropriate statement that you just made. Thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you for involving me and others in this hearing as well. As the former chairman of this committee, i convened a hearing in 2017 on the importance of protecting young athletes against abuse. It took place before Larry Nasser, the now disgraced Teen Test Team doctor was convicted. Our committee heard them from other gymnasts about a culture in competitive sports that made it difficult for many girls to come forward and report their sexual abuse. That hearing convinced me of the need to champion legislation on which i work closely with senator feinstein, then Ranking Member, in 2017. The enactment means that copious instructors and others who work with young athletes now are mandatory reporters of Child Exploitation or abuse. Oversight of the fbi is one of Eric Committees important duties, i also repeatedly pressed the fbi for more information on its handling of the Nasser Investigation from 2017 to the present. The fbi personnel ignored my Steps Request in january, 2018 for a briefing and when i contacted the fbi by letter, to restate the request, i was advised that the Inspector General was reviewing the matter. The f, while one of our premier Law Enforcement agencies, has stumbled in several ways in recent years. An associated Press Investigation identified half a dozen sexual misconduct allegations involving senior fbi personnel over the past five years, which each of the accused officials avoiding discipline. Another shocking example came to light the summer when the Inspector General completed his report on the handling of sexual abuse allegations against the former Team Doctor for Usa Gymnastics. It was then that we learned that the fbi severely let down thousands of teenage girls, several of whom bravely came forward in 2015 to report their abuse. Children suffered needlessly because of multiple agents and multiple offices at the fbi neglected to share nassers allegations with their Law Enforcement counterparts at the state and local levels. Disturbingly, the abuse occurred at the hands of someone who was entrusted with their medical treatment and wellbeing. Brief survivors, now poised young women, or with us today and we welcome you and your testimony. The Fbi Response to the Inspector Generals route for attributes this episode to a few agents at the Fbi Field offices who neglected to carry out their duties properly. I suspect there is much more to that story. When issue, not talked about much, is that the fbi has a division in washington, d. C. Known as the violent crimes against children unit. This component of headquarters was notified by two of its field offices about the nasser allegations way back in 2015. And 2016 respectively. The Childrens Unit employs subject matter experts so it is wellpositioned in the fbi to guide those field offices on their duties in Child Exploitation cases. Because it is housed at headquarters, this Childrens Unit also was uniquely positioned to play a coordinating role by supervising case transfers to the appropriate Fbi Field offices. This unit was wellpositioned to offer qualitative supervision of field offices work, for example, by ensuring that followup occurs in sensitive cases, tragically, its obvious, these things did not happen. The fbi, including this Childrens Unit also places its image before victim protection in this case. The Childrens Unit help develop a white paper, or more accurately, a whitewash, after the Nasser Case attracted national attention. It insured that truthful information was provided about the Fbis Role in this investigation was clearly not the main priority. This is a serious problem at the heart of the fda fbi, not a few errant agents. At todays hearing, i hope to hear more about exactly who at Fbi Headquarters other than its Childrens Unit, new about the nasser allegations my how and when they learned of these allegations and what they did in response. If there is one thing the Inspector Generals report illustrates its of this, that we need to make sure the bureau is more effective and held more accountable. This episode is unfortunate, too, because as i have said repeatedly, there are many extremely fine men and women in the fbi and many who served their country well as employees of that superb agency. I look forward to hearing from 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 and how to improve the Fbi Approach in Child Exploitation cases and how to ensure negligent agents are held accountable, just like Chairman Durbin has asked. Finally, i want to mention that i am working on legislation to close the legislative loophole in the Sex Tourism Statute that the Inspector General flagged in his report. This gap in the law allows Larry Nasser to evade federal prosecution for assaulting children while traveling abroad and that can never happen again stop i look forward to working with the Inspector General, members on this committee and making this necessary change in law, thank you. We look forward to working with you on a bipartisan basis. I know recognize Senator Dianne Feinstein of california. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I welcome the opportunity to say a few words about this appalling abuse of young athletes and the failures of the fbi to protect them. It was more than five years ago that we heard about the horrific abuse perpetrated by Larry Nasser and began working to reform how amateur athletic organizations handle sexual abuse allegations. I have met several times with some of our witnesses, i believe two are here today and other athletes who have been harmed by the conduct that we are all here today to discuss. The strength and the courage that i have seen from these young women is really astonishing and a Role Model for others. They are really the champions for sexual Abuse Prevention who are speaking out to ensure other young athletes dont suffer as they did. Unfortunately, their bravery in some cases has been met with a disturbing lack of action within the Fbi Step the findings in the Justice Department Inspector General July Report found serious problems with how the fbi conducted its investigation of Larry Nasser. The agencys failures allowed a sexual predator to continue to abuse more than 70 young women. That is inexcusable, mr. Chairman. It should not be a Survivors Burden to continually seek Justice And Demand an end to their nightmares. That is the job of our Law Enforcement agencies and the fbi candidly must do better. Hopefully, this hearing will make that clear. Now its our turn to take action on behalf of these women. Congress must do everything we can to protect others that come after them. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing and hopefully, we can ensure that these failures are never repeated. Thank you for your leadership on this issue as well. Senator cornyn . Mr. Chairman, thank you and ranking Member Grassley for holding this hearing and giving me a chance to say a few words at the beginning. As these women and countless survivors before them have demonstrated, it takes tremendous courage for victims of sexual assault to come forward and tell their story. Whether its telling a family member, a friend or Law Enforcement about their abuse, there are fears that their claims will not be taken seriously or they will be ignored or that the victim will somehow be blamed. Those fears cause survivors to remain silent for months, years or even a lifetime stop unfortunately, the fbis mishandling of this case has done nothing to convince survivors that their trauma will be treated with the urgency and care it deserves. When survivors make the difficult decision to come forward, they should be treated with dignity and respect. That is the bare minimum. And it didnt happen here. The allegations raised by wellknown worldclass athletes are not taken seriously by the f ei, what hope do other victims of sexual assault have . If this monster was able to continue harming these women and girls after the victims first went to the fbi, how many other abusers have escaped justice . If the fbi did so little in the investigation involving worldclass athletes, what hope can average american have, what faith can they have in the system . I wrote a letter to the Inspector General last summer, urging him to release his report which back then was overdue so we could begin to answer some of these. I am disappointed it took more than a year after that letter was sent for the report to be finally released and its fair to say that his report has left us with questions. There were obviously catastrophic failures at multiple levels of Law Enforcement which resulted in direct harm of these young women. The fbi had two separate opportunities to do its job and it failed. In fact, it was the University Police Department that finally did a real investigation, one that finally brought nasser to justice. I have always believed that the fbi should be the Gold Standard for Law Enforcement and i believe that by and large, it is. Instead, in examples like this, we see failure of ethics, failure of competence and dishonesty. I am eager to ask director horwitz, Inspector General Horowitz And Director ray about the grave missteps made by the fbi and more importantly, to understand the changes they will be implementing to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. We must demand real change and real accountability and will not be satisfied by platitudes and vague promises about improved performance. This nation must be a place where when victims speak, they are not ignored and it must be a place where those who commit crimes like Larry Nasser are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The fbi must demonstrate as they have not attempted to do before that they understand their failures, they will learn from them and do better. Mr. Chairman, i want to recognize the leadership of Senator Moran who will testify here and Senator Blumenthal from the Commerce Committee and spearheading a lot of this investigation, urging us all to this point where we are today, thank you. I will echo that step the next person to speak will be senater Richard Blumenthal who has been a real leader on the issue together with his partner in this effort, Senator Jerry Moran who will testify briefly afterwards. Senator blumenthal, please proceed. Thank you and my gratitude to you for holding this profoundly significant hearing and to Senator Moran, my partner who has worked tirelessly with me on this issue and been a great partner in our common effort but most important, i really want to thank the athletes and survivors who are here. You have truly inspired us. I will never forget the moment we stood in the kennedy caucus room. There were 40 or more of you and you told us that you had been failed repeatedly by institutions that were supposed to protect you. And you called on us to keep our word. Todays hearing is another step in our keeping the promise that we made to you then, that we would work to hold accountable the institutions that failed you and to reform them and make sure that this kind of wrongdoing, more than wrongdoing, heinous, hideous abuse, never happens again. We have investigated and have asked the Inspector General to investigate as well and he has produced a report and let me come to the reason we are here today. Its not only that the fbi failed to do its job systematically and read heatedly, it is also the coverup that occurred afterwards when Fbi Agents made material false statements and deceptive omission, referred by the inspector for criminal prosecution. Those referrals were declined. Without explanation. Without any public explanation at all. My hope is that the department of justice which was invited today and has declined to appear, will match your courage by explaining why those lines by Fbi Agents did not lead to criminal Prosecution And Accountability and even days before this hearing, there had been no action, even administratively, only with this hearing steering the fbi in the face did they fire one of those Fbi Agents. There is no question that Larry Nasser was a Monster Stuff he was a horrific predator. He was not the only monster in gymnastics and gymnastics was not the only sport that had monsters. Our report focused not only on the monsters but the enablers. The institutions that failed you , the schools like michigan State University, Usa Gymnastics , the coaches and trainers, they all looked the other way when you came to them and then the fbi looked the other way. In july of 2015. They look the other way and did nothing until late 2016, almost 18 months later and in that timeframe, dozens of young women lay before Larry Nasser and he did with them what he wanted. With Trauma And Terror that will last a lifetime. That pain was preventable, it was needless. The Fbis Failure to act had real human consequences. And that will be forever a stain on the fbis reputation. But even more so, the cover that occurred afterwards because when those agents came under scrutiny, they actually manufactured statements, they lied about what survivors told them. The ultimate abuse of authority. There is nothing we can do to reverse the Pain And Grief that Larry Nasser caused you but we can take action against the law enforcers who became enablers. Those institutions became enablers and so did the fbi. And so, i call on the department of justice to come forward. They declined to do so today. Senator feinstein and i urged them to be here. They owe the american people and you an explanation. I call on the department of justice to pursue action, not just administrative action, but criminal prosecution where appropriate. This day is a hard one. Its probably scary for you but also hard for all of us who have valued and respected the work of the fbi. The fbi has admitted, and i quote the actions and inactions of the Fbi Employee described in the Oig Report are inexcusable and a discredit to this organization. I agree. But it isnt just those two Fbi Employees who are to blame. This failure was systematic. This investigation was mishandled from coast to coast from indianapolis to Los Angeles and it has to leave us wondering whether the fbi is capable of these kinds of sexual abuse investigations. I will close where i began. We wouldnt be here but for the Term Courage of so many survivors and their unwavering demand for change. There must be accountability for the individuals and institutions that enabled Larry Nasser. Anything else is unacceptable. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We will now youre from Senator Lack burn who will appear on the screen we will now hear from Senator Blackburn in the last statement will be from Senator Moran. Thank you you, mr. Chairman. I so appreciate we are having this Hearing Today and have the opportunity to hear firsthand from some of these athletes. I appreciate the work and the effort that the committee has put into the preparation for this. Over the past few years, we have seen scandal after scandal that have come to light. They have exposed men who have abused their positions of power to take advantage of and harm women. These stories of abuse continue to be shocking every time we hear about it. We are inclined to listen more closely to believe these stories because we have seen this type of behavior before. It is really hard to imagine a scandal, however, that comes as close to the depravity of Larry Nasser. The young athletes who are with us today trusted him and he abused that trust. Not once but repeatedly. In the years since, Larry Nassers people has been outshone by the courage of these young women who have been strength to so many, to go after what happened in these crimes. Many of these brave young women should be saluted, every one of them saluted for the positions they have taken to standup to tell their stories and to go after justice for themselves and for fellow athletes. As we have heard others of my colleagues say, it is shameful that the fbi was very slow to respond. It is shameful that the fbi, who was charged with investigating these horrific crimes and abuses grossly failed to fulfill its duty. They sat idly by. They turned a blind eye and mr. Chairman, i think one of the things we all want to hear is why did they discount, why did they devalue what they were hearing from the athletes . From the time this arose to them on action was taken by the university, by local police and there was a dismissal of Larry Nasser. There were 70 more victims. Those are the victims we know about that have come to light. Every single person in authority who turned a blind eye to these young athletesallegations is complicit in the Larry Nasser crimes and everyone one of them should be considered a predator. We cannot say to future generations of women and girls from this kind of future abuse if we continue to settle by diplomatic resolutions. We owe it to these young women and two girls in womens everywhere to figure out why their government failed them, why these institutions did not listen to them and that process begins today. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you and i will ask is our final witness, Senator Jerry Moran. Though he is not a member of this committee, he has been a real leader with Senator Blumenthal in Oversight And Legislation on this issue. Thank you for holding this hearing and thank you also for inviting me to speak before the committee today. I am grateful for your interest in this topic. I would like to thank the survivors who will once again tell their story. I have expressed my respect for them today. Mckayla maroney, maggie nichols, simone biles, aly raisman as well as all the survivors who were other survivors were also joining us today, jessica howard, jamie dancer, kaylee lorenz. On january 25, 2018, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee with jurisdictional Health And Safety of amateur athletes, Senator Blumenthal, my Ranking Member and i opened an investigation into how Usa Gymnastics, the u. S. Olympic and paralympic committee and michigan State University allowed a monster to Assault And Abuse young women for decades. Early in our meeting with the survivors, one of them asked the question and it has stuck with me since them, since the beginning of our investigation, 3. 5 years ago and the question was why was there more than one of us . I do not know how to answer that question. I do not know a human being that i would not expect to report if someone told them they were being abused to report to Law Enforcement to officials. And yet, time and time again, no one, no one accepted that responsibility. For these young women. Why was there more than one . Most recently, we learned even the federal bureau of investigation belongs on the list of those who failed in their responsibility, allowing for there to be more than one, more than dozens. Over 18 months, we held for committee hearings. We conducted hundreds of interviews and we reviewed over 70,000 pages of documents. This bipartisan effort culminated last fall with the passage of the amateur Athlete Act which strengthened legal Liability And Accountability mechanisms over the olympic movement. In the United States and worked to restore a culture that put athletes first. We continue to know our job is not done. We will continue working with athletes and survivors to make certain that the law is effective in meeting its goals. We are here today because of those athletes, those victims, those survivors because of their advocacy and their courage. Together, we have demanded Change And Accountability from the institutions and individuals who covered up, enabled and contributed to the abuse of young athletes. As i said earlier, unfortunately, that list includes the federal bureau of investigation. Senator blumenthal is correct, its not just about visa survivors, its not just about gymnastics, its not even necessarily about the olympics. This challenge is pervasive in our country, in our society, in our culture and the chairman, Chairman Derman indicated today in instance is in his home state. All of us could find those, no those and recognize there is much more to be done. During the course of our investigation, we uncovered evidence the fbi received credible information of the dangers Larry Nasser posed to athletes. Yet, the fbi did not appear to take any additional actions. Furthermore, we learned that while the agents in indianapolis claims to send information to the appropriate offices in michigan, it was not until evidence collected by local authorities that the evidence was turned over to the fbi in lansing, michigan and officials in michigan then learned of Nassers Abuse. Subsequently, the Oig Report in july confirmed this misconduct. The Oig Report confirmed our suspicions. The fbi received explicit warnings about Larry Nassers horrific abuse from a survivor years before the perpetrator was finally arrested. The fbi failed to protect their athletes. This in action is appalling and as we have all said, unacceptable. I remain committed to working with this committee, my colleagues in the senate and the survivors here today to protect and empower all athletes. As the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the department of justice, i will work to be certain the Fbi Agents are held accountable for their actions, that it is never repeated. I look forward to working with you, mr. Chairman, mr. Ranking member in that regard in a no senator shaheen, the chairperson of our Proappropriations Committee would join us in that effort. Our goal should remain the same to hold accountable those for these crimes and make certain future generations can train, compete and can succeed without fear of abuse. I appreciate Inspector Horowitz and his report, his thoroughness. I think Senator Blumenthal for his partnership and in our subcommittees and continuing efforts and i particular thank the senate Judiciary Committee for allowing me to speak today. This is something we must not forget in all of us need to be able to answer why was there more than one . Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you for your testimony and good work on this issue. We will now transition into the first panel. I asked the staff to do their good work and just hold for a minute. Go ahead. We will now turn to our panel of witnesses and asked them to come forward and be seated. Though they probably need no introduction, they are so well known across the nation, i want to see if you words about some amazing young women who have come to speak to us today. Our first panel has four witnesses who are members and former members of Usa Gymnastics. They are olympians, national and international gymnastic champions in each of them is also a survivor. Canal back order our first witness simone biles, one of the greatest gymnast of all time. Shes the first woman to capture five allaround World Championship titles and the most decorated gymnast male or female in World Championship history. 25 medals overall. She is a seventime olympic medalist. For extra ordinary accomplishments have received widespread recognition including two associated press female athlete of the year awards. Mckayla maroney is a member of the american womens Gymnastics Team dubbed the fierce five at the 2012 summer olympics. She won a Gold Medal and Team Competition and individual Silver Medal in the vault. She was also a member of the american team of the 2011 World Championships where she went gold mammals debts Gold Medals in the 2013 13 World Championships where she defended her Vault Title and we frequently see her on tv jumping on a roof. [laughter] our next witness, maggie nichols, led the university of nebraska Gymnastics Team two national championships in 2017 and 2019, also winning six individual titles. She represented the United States and the 2015 World Championships where she wanted Gold Metal in Team Competition and a Bronze Medal on Floor Exercises. To also hold several Usa Gymnastics national championship metals. Finally, aly raisman, one of the most accomplished american gymnast of all time. Twotime olympian, Team Captain of the 2012 and 2016 womens Gymnastics Team, six olympic and World Championship metals including an individual Silver Medal in the 2016 olympic allaround and Gold Medals and Team Competition in 2012 and 2016. A leader onandoff the floor, she uses her platform to advocate for Abuse Prevention and education. I thank you each for being here. Let me lay out the mechanics after we square in the witnesses and the first panel which is the tradition each witness will have five minutes to provide their opening statements. There will then be one round of questions in this extraordinary procedure. Each senator will have one minute to question so please, honor your allotted time to ask a question. Following that, we will switch to our second panel will once again have fiveminute opening statements from the witnesses and then another round of questions each senator will have five units or questions. With the witnesses please stand to be sworn in . Raise your right hand and confirmed that the testimony you are about to get before the committee will be the truth, the whole Truth And Nothing but the truth so help you god . Let the records show the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Be seated. Ms. Biles, your first if you would like to give your opening statement. Pull the Microphone Close to you, it works much better. Thank you for the opportunity to share my story with this committee and for bringing light to the crisis of abuse and amateurs words. Your commitment to ensuring the safety of gymnast in all amateur athletes is appreciated, important and necessary to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Please bear with me. To be perfectly honest, i can imagine no place i would be less comfortable right now than sitting here in front of you, sharing these comments. My name is simone biles and im a gymnast who was trained at the level of the sport. As an elite in this, i have the honor to represent the United States of america in multiple international competitions including World Championships and the olympic games. Over the course of my gymnastics career, i have one 25 World Championship metals and seven olympic medals for team usa. That record means so much to me and i am proud of my representation in gymnastics. Im also a survivor of sexual abuse. I believe without a doubt, that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue our directly the result of the fact that the organizations created by congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, Usa Gymnastics and the United States olympic and paralympic Commute Committee failed to do their job. Nelson mandela once said that there can be no Keener Revelation of a Society Soul than the way at which it treats its children. It is the power of that statement that compels and empowers me to be here in front of you today. I dont want another young jennet gymnast, limbic athlete or any individual to experience the horror that i am hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day. To be clear, sorry take your time. To be clear, i blame Larry Nasser and i also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. Usa gymnastics in the United States olympic and paralympic committee knew that i was abused by their official Team Dr. Long before i was ever made aware of their knowledge. In may of 2015, the former head of Usa Gymnastics womens program was told by my friend and teammate, maggie nichols, that she suspected i too was a victim. I didnt understand the magnitude of what was happening until the Indianapolis Star published its article in the fall of 2016 entitled former Usa Gymnastics doctor accused of abuse. While i was a member of the 2016 u. S. Olympic team, neither u. S. Ag, u. S. Opc nor the fbi ever contacted me or my Parents Step while others had been informed an investigations are ongoing, i have been left to wonder why i was not told until after the real games. This was the largest case of sexual abuse in the history of american sports. Although there have been a fully independent investigation of the Fbi Handholding of the case, neither u. S. Ag nor u. S. Opc have ever been made the subject of the same level of scrutiny. These are the entities entrusted with the protection of our sport and our athletes and yet it feels like questions of responsibility and organizational failures remain unanswered. As you pursue the answers to those questions, i asked that your words be guided by the same question that rachel and many others have asked how much is a little Girl Worth . I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no little girl must endure but i am of the athletes at this table and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassers Guise of medical treatment which we continue to endure today. We suffered and continue to suffer because no one at the fbi or u. S. Og did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed and we deserve answers. Nasser is where he belongs but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, i am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across olympic sports. In reviewing the Oig Report, it feels like the fbi turned a lined i and went out of its way to protect u. S. Ag and u. S. Opc. A message needs to be sent, if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe, enough is enough stuff i will close with one final but, the scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us. As a lone competitor in the recent tokyo games, i can assure you that the impact of this Mans Abuse are not ever over or forgotten. The announcement in the spring of 2020 about the tokyo games that were be that were to be postponement that i would be going to the gym to training, to therapy, living daily among the reminders of this story for another 365 days. As i have stated in the past, one thing that helped me push each and every day was the goal of not allowing this crisis to be ignored step i work incredibly hard to make sure my presence could maintain a connection between the failures and the competition at tokyo 2020. That has proven to be exceptionally difficult burden for me to carry, particularly when required to travel to tokyo without the support of any of my family. I am a strong individual and i will persevere but i never should have been left alone to suffer the abuse of Larry Nasser. The only reason i did was because of the failures that lie at the heart of the abuse that you are no asked to investigate. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with this committee today. I want to sincerely thank each of you for joining the survivors of this abuse to do what we all can to prevent anything like this from ever happening again stop thank you. Thank you, ms. Biles. Ms. Maroney . You have to push the button on your microphone. Are we on . All right, good morning and thank you Chairman Durbin and ranking Member Grassley and members of the Judiciary Committee for inviting me to speak today. As most of you are probably aware, i was molested to gymnastics national team and olympic Team Dr. , Larry Nasser. In actuality, he turned out to be more of a pedophile than he was a doctor. What im trying to bring to your to Tension Today is something incredibly disturbing and illegal. After telling my entire story of abuse to the fbi in the summer of 2015, not only to 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. After reading the office of Inspector General report, i was shocked and deeply disappointed at this narrative they chose to fabricate. They chose to lie about what i said and protect a serial Child Molester rather than protect not only me but countless others. My story is one in which special agents in charge and his subordinates did not want you to hear. Its time that i tell you. In the summer of 2015, like i said, i was scheduled to speak to the fbi about my abuse with Larry Nasser over the Phone Stuff i was too sick to meet with anyone in person and talking about this abuse would give me ptsd for days but i chose to speak about it to try and make a difference and protect others. I remember sitting on my Bedroom Floor for nearly three hours as i told him what happened to me. I hadnt even told my own mother about these facts but i thought, as i am comfortable and as uncomfortable and hard it was, i was going to make a difference and hopefully protecting others from the same abuse. I answered all of their questions honestly and clearly and i disclosed all of my molestations i had endured in extreme detail. They told me to start from the beginning. I told them about the sport of gymnastics and how you make the national team and how i came to meet Larry Nasser when i was 13 at a Texas Camp Stop i told him the first thing he ever said to me was to change into shorts with no underwear because that would make it easier for him to work on me. Within minutes, he had his fingers in my vision. And my for chin in my vagina. They asked if he used gloves, he never did. They asked if the treatment ever helped me. I said no, it never did. This treatment was 100 abuse and never gave me any relief. I then told the fbi about tokyo, the date he gave me a Sleeping Pill for the Plane Ride to then work on me later that night. That evening, i was naked, completely alone with him on top of me molesting me for hours. I told them i thought i was going to die that night because there was no way he would let me go. But he did. I told them i walked the halls of Tokyo Hotel at 2 00 a. M. At only 15 years old. I began crying at the memory over the phone and there was just dead silence. I was so shocked at the Agent Silence and disregard for my trauma that after that minute of silence he asked is that all . Those words in itself was one of the worst moments of this entire process for me. To have my abuse be minimized and disregarded by the people who are supposed to protect me, just to feel like my abuse was not enough. The truth is, my abuse was enough and they wanted to cover it up. Usa gymnastics in concert with the fbi and the Olympic Committee working together to conceal that Larry Nasser was a predator. I then proceeded to tell him about he had signed me a blast on a sheet so he could molest me for hours twice a day. I told them how he molested me right before i won my team goldmedal, how he gave me present but me bought me coffee and sent them screenshots of him texting me. He said i love how you see the world through rose colored glasses. I hope you continue to do so. This was very clear, Cookiecutter Pedophilia and abuse and this is important because i told the fbi all of this they chose to falsify my report and not only minimize my abuse but silence me yet again. I thought given the severity of the situation, they would act eckley for the sake of protecting other girls but instead, it took them 14 months to report anything and Larry Nasser, in my opinion, should have been in jail that day. The fbi, u. S. Og and u. S. Opc set idly by while dozens of girls continue to be molested by Larry Nasser. According to the Oig Report, about 14 months after i disclosed my views to the fbi, nearly a year and a half later, the Fbi Agent who interviewed me in 2015 decided to write down my statement, a statement that the Oig Report determined to be materially false. By Manatt Taking immediate action from my report, they allowed a Child Molester to go free for more than a year. This in action directly allowed Nassers Abuse to continue. What is the point of reporting abuse if our own Fbi Agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in a drawer . They had legal, legitimate evidence of Child Abuse and did nothing. If they are not going to protect me, i want to know who are they trying to protect . Whats even more upsetting is that we know that these Fbi Agent have committed an obvious crime. They falsified my statement and that is illegal in itself. Get no recourse has been taken against them. The department of justice refused to prosecute these individuals. Why . Deputy Attorney General lisa Monico Couldnt bring herself to be here today. It is the department of Justices Job to hold them accountable. I am tired of waiting for people to do the right thing. Because my abuse was enough and we deserve justice. These individuals clearly violated policies and were negligent in executing their duties and in doing so, more girls were abused by Larry Nasser for over a year. Not convicting these agents is a disservice to me and my teammates and a disservice to the system which was to protect all of us from abuse. It was a disservice to every victim who suffered needlessly at the hands of Larry Nasser after i spoke up. Why are public servants whose job it is to protect getting away with this . This is not justice. Enough is enough. Today i ask you all to hear my voice. I ask you please, do all that is in your power to ensure that these individuals are held responsible and accountable for ignoring my initial report, for lying about my initial report and for covering in closing, i would like to express my deep gratitude to the u. S. Senate, a powerful institution that from the very beginning has fought for us, rather than against us. Thank you and i welcome any questions. Thank you, miss maroney. Members of the dish a committee, thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I want to thank you for your commitment to choosing Athlete Safety and choosing to let accountable those who are responsible for Athlete Safety. I previously identified as athlete a. This is not happen to gymnast to be or athlete a. It happened to me, 90 maggie nichols. I was an elite gymnast and by 14 i made the national team and i traveled internationally, attending competition and i represented our country, where i won a Gold Medal. Violent fifteens ended in the summer when my coach and i reported larry Nassers Abuse. I went on to compete at the university of oklahoma, where i was named Firstteam Oklahoman and was a national champion. I reported my abuse over six years ago and yelled, my family and i have received few answers and have even more questions about how this was allowed to occur opinion and sacrificing my childhood for the chance to compete, i am haunted by the fact that even after reporting my abuse, 70 women and girls had to suffer at the hands of Larry Nasser. Usa gymnastics and the fbi have a trade me and those abused by Larry Nasser, after i reported. The cover of my abuse and the failure to interview me for over a year after my complaint are well documented in the Oig Report. Usa my family and i were told by the former president to keep quiet and not say anything that would hurt the investigation. We now know that there was no real investigation occurring. While him Larry Nasser continued to abuse women and girls. The fbi issued no Search Warrant and made no arrests. I was treated differently. Not only did the fbi failed to conduct a thorough investigation, they also knew that it created a false narrative where Larry Nasser was able to retire. It allowed dozens of little girls to be molested. As the report details, Fbi Agents did not properly document evidence, failed to report to proper authorities and the special agent in charge, seeking to become the director of security. A Job Opportunity was raised by penny. Fbi agents in charge of the investigation lied to investigators about what had happened. This conduct by these Fbi Agent, including the special agent in charge, who are held in high regard and expected to protect the public is shameful. This can be produced a report titled the courage of survivors, a call to action. It found that the u. S. Committee they failed to adequately respond to credible allegations against Larry Nasser. The Oig Report found that senior Fbi Officials lied to the Inspector General, engaged in conflicts of interest and tried to cover up the biggest sexual abuse scandals in the history of sports. Despite these findings of serious and criminal misconduct, no accountability has occurred. An important question remains, why . Why would they lie investigators . Why would they not properly document evidence that was received . Why would they be interested . These questions remain unanswered. The victims have a right to know why their wellbeing was placed by those who chose not to do their jobs. No one has faced federal charges other than Larry Nasser. For hundreds of survivors of Larry Nasser, this hearing is one of our last opportunities to get justice. We ask that you do what is in your power to make sure that those who engaged in wrongdoing are held accountable, under the law. Thank you. I want to begin by thanking the Judiciary Committee, including the chairman for their commitment to seeking the truth for the hundreds, if not thousands who are systematically abused by they nasser and for the diligence to demand accountability, regarding federal Law Enforcement misconduct. I also want to express my gratitude to the other brave survivors here today, my friends and my teammates, for sharing their story and continuing to press for justice and reform. Over the past few years, it has become painfully clear how a Survivors Healing is affected by the handling of their abuse. It disgusts me that we are still fighting for the most basic answers and accountability over six years later. In 2015, it was known that at least six national team athletes had been abused by Larry Nasser. One of the athletes was abused given the unfettered access to children, stopping him should have been a priority, but instead the following occurred. The fbi failed to interview pertinent parties in a timely manner. It took over 14 months for the fbi to contact me, despite my many requests to be interviewed by them. The record established that Steve Penny, Fbi Agent abbett and their subordinates worked to can heal nassers crimes. Steve penny arranged with the fbi to conduct my interview at the olympic Training Center, where i was under the Control And Observation of Usa Gymnastics and the u. S. Olympic and paralympic committee. The day of my interview, Steve Penny flew to the other picked Training Center and made sure that i was aware that he was there. I felt pressured by the fbi to consent to the plea deal. They diminished the significance of my abuse and made me feel that my criminal case was not worth pursuing. The special nt the special agent in charge met Steve Penny for beers, to discuss job opportunities in the olympic movement. Another Fbi Agent worked with Steve Penny to determine jurisdiction without interviewing the survivors. I watched multiple highranking officials resign or retire without explanation of how they may have contributed to the problem. Some were publicly thanked for their service and rewarded with Severance Or Bonus money. My reports of abuse were not only varied, but they were mishandled by Law Enforcement officers who failed to follow their most basic duties. The fbi and others but then u. S. Ag knew that Nasser Molested Children and did nothing to restrict his access. Steve penny and any employee could have walked a few steps to file a report. With the Indiana Child protective services, since they shared the same building. Instead, they allowed him to slip out the door, letting him complete his work and even run for school board. Nasser found more than 100 new victims to molest. It was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter. Why did none of these organizations warn anyone . They have a long history of enabling abuse by turning a blind eye. Both organizations knew about his abuse, long before it became public. He would not know that five eating their press releases, which would have you and their corporate corporate sponsors believe that Athlete Safety comes first. We have called for a factual investigation for years because we know firsthand these organizations and their public statements are not to be trusted. They claim that they want accountability but seek to restrict which staff can be interviewed on which document can be examined and claim Attorneyclient Privilege over and over again. The socalled investigations orchestrated were not designed to provide the answers that we so critically need. Why are we left to guess what they deliberately ignored . Was it to protect the value of sponsorships . Their own jobs . To avoid criminal liability . Perhaps, but why must we speculate, when the facts are obtainable and the stakes are so high. Why would lawenforcement officers ignore reports of abuse by a doctor across state lines and country borders for a future Job Opportunity . Where there are additional incentives and pressures . Why must we speculate when the facts are obtainable and the stakes are so high . Just as it is naive to assume that the problem only rests with Larry Nasser, it is unrealistic to think that we can grasp the full extent of cup of culpability without understanding how and why they chose to ignore abuse for decades. Why the interplay among these three organizations led the fbi to willingly disregard our reports of abuse. Without knowing who knew what and win, we cannot identify all enablers or determine whether they are still in positions of power. We cannot fix a problem that we do not understand. We cannot understand the problem unless and until we have all of the facts. If we do not do all that we can to get the facts, the problems that we are here to address will persist and we are deluding ourselves if we think that other children can be spared the institutionalized Tolerance And Normalization of abuse that i and so many others had to endure. Thank you for your time, your commitment and your genuine concern for those survivors who relied on the fbi to do the right thing. I welcome any questions and comments, and i will answer them to the best of my ability. I have been in a lot of committee hearings but i cannot remember compelling testimony like we have heard this morning, ever before because you had the courage to come up and tell the world what happened to you. It is heartbreaking to think what you have been through. Thank you for being here. We have a job to do and we know it. It begins with this hearing, the accountability of the fbi and all of Law Enforcement when it comes to abuse cases like those that you have endured, personally. There is a historic element here, and not your audience includes young people, like yourself, who are victims and survivors themselves. I have one minute to question and my question to the panel, anybody who cares to respond, what would you say to other young athletes who may be suffering in Silence Or Wrestling with a decision about whether to speak out . The first thing that i would want to say to anybody watching this that is suffering in silence or has been through something traumatic is that i support them. I believe them. Just be patient with yourself and be kind to yourself. I am struggling as well. I am still trying to figure out how to heal from this. Hearing is a roller coaster. Sometimes i feel like i am taking a bunch of steps backwards. We are doing the best that we can, but i would encourage anybody out there to tell someone whenever you feel comfortable. It is important to have a good support system. If you are someone out there who does not have a good support system, thats ok. Sometimes it takes a mile to find a good support system. Just remember that i believe you and i support you. You are not alone and i encourage you to ask for help. I would say that they need to know that there abuse is enough. For so long, a lot of us questioned just because somebody else was not fully validating us, that we doubted what happened to us and that will make the Healing Process take longer. The second that i gave that to myself was when i began to heal and when i began to get my voice back. That took a long time. To reach out to other survivors and to hear their stories is what helps me to continue to heal. Hearing these girls speak makes me continue to want to be here today and help others. Before i ask my first question, we have not forgotten why these people have not been prosecuted. I want it put in the record, a letter that i wrote to the Attorney General on july 16, to request that the department we visit the decision not to prosecute the Fbi Employees who failed all of you, and a lot of you that are not here as well. Thank you very much. First of all, it is not enough just to commend you for your bravery of speaking out, but by years speaking out, you are helping not only young women, but wherever there might be the abuse that you talk about. It is very difficult, im sure, in this public setting and we felt that it has to be a hard job. Thank you for coming forward. Im going to ask questions and you decide how you want to respond, but i hope that one person will speak up. What can you tell congress and the government, witnesses testifying, about the additional steps, if any, that we can make sure that we can protect Child Athlete . We have heard from all of you about the fbi not doing its job and lying to us. Beyond those things, do you have anything that you would like to add that congress should hear from you to protect Child Athletes . I think it is to look at the connection between the fbi, u. S. Gymnastics and the committee. We cannot believe that there is a safer future for children unless we fully understand everything that happened. Usa gymnastics says that they have done investigations, but they were not completely independent, and the scope matters. Nothing should be off limits. It should go back decades. That has not been done and it is something that we have been asking for for years. I would like to see all of the investigations completed. The scope of that matters because until we know the facts, it was just guesswork. I hope you feel the same as i do that if we are thinking about children, i do not want to be guessing that they will be ok. I want to know with 100 certainty that somebody that looked the other way for us is not in a position of power. I think the investigation is crucial. I do not have any faith that things will get better in the sport until then. If nobody else is wanting to go beyond that, i will go to my last question. I hope this is not something so sensitive that you do not feel that you can talk about it, but do you have any thoughts or input to share about safe sport . It has been test with kong with handling allegations from amateur athletes. I think that im trying to be respectful here. I do not like say sport. I hear from many survivors that they report their abuse and it is like playing hot potato. A really big issue is it is funded by Usa Gymnastics or the Olympic Committee im not sure whathe correct terminology is, but if you are funded by the organization you are investigating they are likely not going to do the right thing. I think that it needs to be completely separate. I personally think that it needs a lot of work, and i know from many survivors my mom has reported things to say sport and we followed up so many times and they say they cannot help you, or they ignore you and pass it on to something else. It is a complete mess. The priority does not seem to be Safety And Wellbeing of athletes but protecting Usa Gymnastics and doing everything keep the p. R. Good. I agree. Nobody really wants to be held accountable. Nobody knows who to hold accountable. There needs to be a specific person in charge of protecting the athlete. It falls on then, when it is not. Instead of it being passed around, there needs to be a specific job for that. Thank you. I now call on senator lahey. We are trying to make this Question Period concise, so please do your best. Thank you all for having the courage to come here today. I can only imagine how painful it is to relive these experiences, but i think that the resiliency and the perseverance that you are showing the World Today is incredibly admirable, and i hope that the young survivors who see this, who feel powerless to tell their stories will look at this as an example. It is far more than telling the stories. Obviously, i have been on this committee a long time and i cannot think of anything so moving. We have heard others talk about accountability and justice, but what does genuine Accountability Look like to you . When do you feel that justice will be done for the injustices that you have suffered . That should be the question that we have today, and i would like to hear from all of you on that. Going back i probably sound like a broken record, but i will try. Hopefully today will be the one where this time i say it ended actually happens, but for me, Accountability Looks like i think that this should not have ever happened. One time being abuse is too many. One child being abused is too many. A complete and full investigation from their, we will know the answers of who should be held accountable. I think that there needs to be when we think about a new Usa Gymnastics, survivors need to be in the room. They need to feel we need to feel like we are not adversaries. We need to feel that our voices that are that they want to actually be a part of the change that we so desperately want. Im not trying to speak for them, but i imagine that it is crazy for me to try to wrap my head around. Or does anything, that they be spared abuse. The fact that we have been treated as adversaries are so many organizations and our abuse has been diminished. We have been victim shamed online. We have been made to feel that we do not matter. I never want another child to feel that way again. Michaela mentioned this that so often, survivors already question themselves and distrust how they feel. That is something that i went through, especially since the fbi made me feel like my abuse did not count. I remember sitting there with the Fbi Agent and trying him trying to convince me that it was not that bad is taken use of arp to realize that my abuse was bad, that it does matter. I think it is really important to have Education And Prevention in the sport as well. I do not see these organizations doing enough every person who walks into a gym should be educated. Everything in between because if we do not have an investigation, Education And Prevention, this Problem And Nightmare will keep happening over and over again. Does anybody else should i assume that you all agree with that . So do i. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. One more to add. We went to see them be at least federally prosecuted to the fullest extent because they need to be held accountable. As a former prosecutor, i agree with that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I also want to thank the four survivors that are joining us today and i want to tell you how much i respect and admire your courage. Sounding the alarm on a system that has abused and neglected you, that was supposed to protect you. Your stories are difficult for you to tell. It has it is extraordinarily important for us to hear about it. I believe that your courage will inspire a generation of women to speak out against those who have abused them. I want you to know that we are all very proud of the example you have said for other women. I hope that this will be a step towards righting the wrongs that have led to the so that we can ensure that they never these mistakes will never be repeated. Thank you for shining a light on this issue. You are not alone. Those allegations are downplayed , slow locked or ignored. Now our job is to make sure that your sacrifices, your trauma and your nightmare have not been in vain. Thank you. Thank you, chairman. For me, this was deja vu. I listened to these young women, i saw the courage, and i saw their willingness to step forward. I am hopeful that we will be able to take some action and i would like to present a letter that was sent to the chief executive officer of the u. S. And has eight specific things. I really hope that nobody goes through the horrors that you have experienced. I hope that you are able to put this behind you and you can lead a life as full and happy as possible. I had the occasion to sit down with at least two i have seen the tears. Those days are now behind. I am convinced that this senate will act. Thank you so much because you have played eggroll, if and when we do can happen. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank each of you for being here. Being here this morning was not easy. Each of you inspire millions across the globe. Many look to your academic to your achievements. You have done extraordinary things, things that take a breath away, things that amazed children and adult. You are able to do that for 10 and thousands of hours of incredible work. And yet, that work pales compared to the work that it took to get here today. You could have stayed silent and avoided the scrutiny, the pain watching me testify, you could see the pain in each of you, sharing that story, but that courage that you demonstrated by reporting this abuse, by shining a light, that courage matters, and it is making a difference in the lives of others. The system failed you. What happened to you was grotesque and abusive, and evil. I am the father of two little girls who are both athletes, not at the level of each of you, but what you experienced was every parents nightmare. You are trusting that your kids will be taking care of, not that they will be abused and targeted. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for calling out the abuse, calling out the system that failed you. That system needs to change and be held accountable so that this does not happen again. I want to thank you for the kids who will not face abuse. Maggie, michaela, simone the state of texas is immensely proud of you, of all of you. Right now, at home, there is a little girl or a little boy who is watching this. They may be facing their own personal hell. It may be facing abuse in sports or some other context. A monster doing unspeakable things to them. That little girl or little boy, i hope, sees your courage and realizes they can come forward to say something as well. That he or she can call out the person hurting them. So thank you for your courage. It makes an enormous difference. Thank you. I want to first thank Senator Blumenthal, who has been so persistent in this for so long. Thank you for holding this hearing. All of our witness is for the Clarity And Grace of your testimony here. Your quest for accountability is 100 justified. Thank you for pursuing it. We will endeavor to help you in that pursuit. It is astonishing and disturbing, how many adults let you down they failed at one of the most basic responsibilities of adulthood, which is to look out for children, take care of them, behave properly. So, i guess on behalf of adults everywhere, that we owe you an apology. What you have done today is impressive and it will make a difference. I am thankful to for stepping up the way that you have. You will see our next speaker on webex, helpful i hope. Senator . Well, perhaps the other senator is on virtually. We are going to search the ether. Senator . Well, in the absence, senator klobuchar. Thank you very much, all of you. Like my colleagues, i want to express my gratitude to you. As a fellow minnesotan, i am particularly grateful to you, maggie for sharing your story with the committee today. All of you and the other women and girls who make up the Gymnastics Community continue to inspire us. I was one of the geeks up at 4 00 a. M. , watching this live, watching the olympics. To think, when you fall off the balance beams and you get back on, or you grab those bars, when you still have an injury or you perform some Floor Exercise that nobody knew was possible to all of us watching, that is something he could never imagine doing. The real courage is what you are doing today. Your bravery is on full display and as a former prosecutor, like some of my colleagues, i know firsthand how hard it is to testify before a room of strangers. This time, you are doing it in front of the u. S. Senate. What you are doing is part of your own healing and it is also part of healing for kids that you will never meet, little girls and boys that are aware of your fame. They may never be aware of what you are doing today and i think you have heard it from so many colleagues that have been leading on these bills. I have been proud to cosponsor them, but more must be done. More oversight and accountability. By coming forward today, you will make that difference, so we can make sure come on your behalf, that this never happens again. Thank you, simone, michaela, Maggie And Allie for representing the women and girls of Usa Gymnastics, so well, on the world stage. Most importantly, so well today. We are going to try one more time with senator cotton. Are you with us . Please proceed. Thank you. I want to take a moment to thank each of the witnesses appearing this morning. The four of you have done amazing things in the quest of your lives. You have been good goal Role Models and have presented america while on the global stage. It is the curse that each of you has displayed, coming forward about the abuse you have faced. Potentially taking down a whole system. This is the first time that we have had hearings on this issue. We have heard from others who faced similar abuse. Unfortunately, for too long, the system failed the very women that it was supposed to protect. The report makes clear that there are individuals that should be held accountable. We went to speak about how that can be remedied. I want to thank each of you for coming before the committee and sharing your story today. Thank you for holding this hearing. Each of you are adults now. You are grown women and demonstrated your strength, Determination And Persistence in testifying here today. As we own the comment in terrible detail, you were victimized as young girls. We have failed you. U. S. Of the committee, Usa Gymnastics those in federal Law Enforcement, who were responsible for taking your horrible testimony and translating it into prompt and decisive action to protect other children and to secure justice for you. Thank you. For the courage it takes to testify and to insist on justice. Thank you to Senator Blumenthal and Senator Moran for your persistent and effective engagement in this. We will next turn to hearing the director from the fbi and Inspector General about what has been found by the Inspector General and what action will be taken next. I want to briefly share with you , one of the most concerning parts of what you shared with us today was about your initial interviews with the fbi. Where it was connected, how it was conducted conducted, how it was conducted that you are left alone as a teenage girl to have an interview by phone in agent, who suggested what you were testifying to was not horrific . Or tried to persuade you that it was not that bad . Or under circumstances, made it clear to you that the person responsible for Usa Gymnastics might be present and might have compromised that interview . The way that all of your interviews were conducted was just awful. Sadly, that has been the experience for millions of victims of child sexual abuse over decades in the u. S. The positive thing that i wanted to share with you today is that for years, there has been a national network of Child Advocacy centers and there is one in each county in my state, that brings together trauma informed, Child Welfare professionals to make sure that victims are only interviewed once, that they are interviewed inappropriate settings, in a way that respects and recognizes the Trauma And Abuse that they have suffered and ensures that your horrible experiences, in terms of those initial interviews and has been compounded by you having to testify and speak again and again. We are working on that system. Senator blunt and i will reintroduce a bill to double the funding. There is now a national network of 880 of these Child Advocacy centers all over the country. I wanted to share with you and with any victim of abuse, or the families that know about their Childs Abuse that might be watching, that what happened to you should not and need not happen again. There are professional Child Welfare centered opportunities around the country to seek justice. Miss maroney, i concede what i said has particularly impacted you. Thank you for your courage, persistence and your demands for justice. Thank you. I believe Senator Blumenthal will be next. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You are heroes and stars, and Role Models for many young men and women around the country. Your courage is obviously impressive to all of us on this committee, but so is your Grace And Daring, your athleticism, your Grace And Daring as people. And your determination not to be defined by the abuse that you suffered and to seek help, which should also be a model to others. A number of you have made reference to the therapy that you have sought, which also takes courage. You have been involved in a sport that often involves injuries and the abuse that you suffered involves emotional injuries that you are seeking to treat, as he would any physical injury. I would like to ask you i know that at least one of the athletes in the room was abused after july, 2015. Let me ask each of you to answer yes or no, whether you know of athletes that were abused by Larry Nasser after july, 2015, during the 18 month period, when the fbi did nothing. You can just say, yes, you do or if you want to tell me how many come if you know, just yes or no. Yes. Kaylee was abused and she spoke out after we spoke out. Yes. Yes, i have met many of them. I also want to be clear that in the time that i had reported my abuse to Usa Gymnastics, i followed up many times. Im sure you can imagine that it was hard for me, but also, i was so scared because of the positions of power. We followed up 70 times and we were constantly told that they were working on it and the most important thing was to keep it confidential and not tell anyone. They told me not to really talk about it with mckayla maroney. I thought that it was being handled, so i cannot express to you when you are told by the president of Usa Gymnastics that they were handling it i did not know that they were going to mishandle it the way that they have. When they are telling me that they are reaching out to the fbi, i unfortunately believed them. I cannot tell you how horrifying it is to meet young girls who look up to me, who watched me compete in the olympics and tell me that they went to see Larry Nasser because of me and my teammate, because they wanted to see the olympic doctor. In his office, he had photos of us, so they went to see him because they thought it was so cool to have the same doctor as us. It has been one of the hardest and most devastating parts for me. 70 survivors suffer with guilt and shame. It takes everything i have to work on not taking the blame for that because it is horrific. It is horrible to meet them and to know that over 100 victims could have been buried the abuse. All we needed was one adult to do the right thing. Thank you senator. I join all my colleagues in inking each of you for coming forward. We know that there are young kids who look up to you as a fantastic Athlete And Gymnast that you are. As they get older, and hope they recognize the courage of you coming forward to tell us your stories. The experiences and horrific abuse that you suffered. I think that all people who have suffered abuse it is time for them to even talk to anybody about it. It was hard enough you to report your abuse, to be specific about what happened, but then to be set to the side, to get the feeling that the people that you relied on to do their job that they thought it was not a big deal i think that compounds that her thick abuse horrific abuse that you experienced. You are right to demand better from the fbi. From the Usa Gymnastics and others, including us in this Hearing Today. To show people that reports of abuse should be taken seriously. Those who come forward come as you did, should be believed. Your courage, shining a light on a culture of abuse of power inspires should inspire others to come forward. I knowledge how much courage it took for you to report in the first place, to undergo the horrifying experiences once again, to tell perfect strangers what happened to you, and to not be taken seriously. That is what we need to change. You have to undergo therapy, but the main thing is that we should prevent these abuses from happening in the first place. If that happens, we need to hold the people who are enacting abuse, accountable. Thank you so much for coming forward. We probably have another 10 to 15 minutes and i do not know if we need a break now or if you want to go straight to the end. Is anybody looking for a break . We are good. Great. Senator Booker Daca Booker . Thank you for being here today. It took extreme courage. Im not sure anybody realizes the burden on survivors to come forward and recall what happened to them. It is not just recalling the trauma and the violence and the pain, but it is being forced to relive it. For that, i am deeply grateful that you would sink here, in a room of strangers come in front of powerful people to again relive that trauma. I also know that you did not come here for our kind word or our Promise Or Empathy proudness or empathy. He came here for action. You have heard words for years, and you are still fighting. You are fighting against a systemic problem in our country that is not just in sports. We have seen it first, from church institutions and the boy scouts. He see it in diners, workplaces, factory floors. You see it in diners, workplaces, factory floors. You athletes are doing something in a tradition that is, to me, what has helped call the conscience of our country forward and expand our moral imagination to stop injustices of other sort. From people that have endured outrageous realities like billie jean king, who used their platforms come not to try to get individual attention, but to try to change this nation. Im grateful that we are at a point where we are at such bipartisan determination it is not often enough but here we have bipartisan determination of my most respected colleagues to deliver what you really came for, which is action. I say that to tell you that we all know that the road to change, systemic change, not just in sport but in culture, it seems to tolerate such a high level of this sort of violence, but it will take time. There is one thing that always rings in my head. The only thing necessary for injustice to continue is for good people to do nothing. You all have seen that, first hand. I have heard you before. You asked the question, do you have any words for other survivors . I would like to simply ask the question, of you, to answer, to put the point and the light where it belongs. It should not take something directly happening to us to trigger our empathy and action. Maybe i would like to know if you have any words for americans, in a country where this violence happens every single day. Is there something that you would like to say to us, who all had to understand that we are playing a part in a culture that allows this to happen . I would like to say that i do not think people realize how much experiencing a type of abuse is not something that one suffers in the moment. It carries on with them, sometimes for the rest of their lives for example, being here today is taking everything that i have. My main concern is, i hope that i have the Energy Event to walk out of here. I do not think people realize how much it affects us, how much the Ptsd And Trauma impacts us. Healing looks different for every survivor. The aftermath looks very different. For me, to paint a picture, i used to train seven hours a day when i was training for the olympics and processing my abuse affected me so much it is something that i struggle with and i can remember, when i first shared my story publicly, for a long time i did not have the energy to stand up in the shower. I would have to sit on the floor to wash my hair because standing up was too exhausting for me. I could not go for a 10 Minute Walk outside. This is someone who competed in olympic games. There are times where i feel like i forget what i am saying and i feel like my mind is not working. I feel like i have no energy at all. I am 27 years old and my 80yearold ran father has more energy than i do. I have often wondered, am i ever going to feel better . It has affected my health come in the last couple of years. I have had to be taken in an ambulance because i passed out, and i am so sick from the trauma. It may not even be after a hearing like this. It hits me out of the blue. It is important to understand how much, even if we are not crying, how much we are all struggling and how much survivors are suffering. People say comeau well why did you just come forward now . Is terrifying it was terrifying to that we will not be believed. Sometimes it is so hard to say the words out loud. For a lot of us, this might take months to recover from. I want to make that clear. You may not know what someone else is going through, but for people who have been through trauma, it is hard. If someone is watching this, for a survivor who does not know why they are having certain issues, just know that you are not alone. I experienced the same thing. Hopefully, in time, we can feel better. Thank you, senator booker. I believe Senator Blackburn is available via webex. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Because of limited bandwidth, i would do this by voice. Thank you to each of the women, for being there today. And the power of their stories, and their words. Three click questions. Quick questions. Senator blackburn, can you hear us . We missed your three questions. Yes, three questions. Number one, what are the reforms that you would like to see take lace . Number two, if you did not trust safe sport, what we would like to know is who is a trustworthy is there an Organization Or Individual that has your trust . Who would be the go to . The third thing, did the fbi ever offer you a female agent, who could walk with you through this process . Thank you, Senator Blackburn. I will let the Panel Respond to you. We have two more members after you. I never had a female agent alongside me. Im signing i am not answering more questions. I am just exhausted. Anybody else want to respond . There was a female agent in the room with me at the otc in 2016 but most of it was fueled by men asking questions. I honestly did not know what i was walking into. They told me i had a meeting with the fbi and did not tell me what it was about. I was pulled into a random Hotel Room and they started asking questions. I was never prompted. All right. Senator padilla . Sen. Padilla i think i think i had a female agent in the room at the Training Center as well, but i am not sure. I feel like we had the same people. If i recall, my communication was with a male Fbi Agent. Senator padilla . Sen. Padilla i want to start by thanking the chairman and all those who have made this hearing possible and to the panelists, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I admire and respect each one of you for choosing to participate today, for sharing your testimony with this, and i recognize that you each had the option of respectfully declining the invitation to be here, but you didnt and i hope that you understand that your presence here is not just so important to the members this committee but to the senate as a body. It also speaks volumes for the countless victims of abuse that are out there listening or watching or will listen or will watch. I appreciate the conversation about mental health prompted by the questions from senator booker. My wife is an active mental Health Advocate and has treated me well to be cognizant of those issue issues. Ms. Biles, you mightve heard about some of some of our application of your courage. It took a lot. I will offer a few comments. Most of the questions that i would raise have been raised by my colleagues, but i also want to make it clear that mr. Na ssers criminal complaints, while they have been closed, we cannot ignore the missteps and will not ignore the missteps that permitted his misconduct. The shields in place have no place in our country. To achieve the highest ideals of our nation we talk about Fairness And Equality so often and we want just ask we wont just ask why. We will not stop until we get the answers to the question of why this man was given the tools to abuse for so long. We will not just ask why. We will commit to getting the answers to why the initial investigation into these matters was bungled. Lastly, we commit ourselves to promoting a Justice System that holds powerful people, learning from this case, but that holds other powerful people accountable for their actions. So again, thank you. Through your participation, through what we will learn and do, we hope to better protect future generations. Thank you, senator. Senator ossof . Thank you again to all of you for being here and being so direct with us and for enduring this experience. I want to assure you that i have listened and heard what you are demanding and the burden should not be on you to see that there is not impunity in this case. Personnel at the fbi, Jay Abbott and his subordinates, Steve Penny, Usa Gymnastics, u. S. Olympic and paralympic committees, the burden is ours in the u. S. Senate see that there is a full investigation, that theres personal and institutional accountability for abuse, enablement of abuse, neglectful and improper Law Enforcement conduct, and i think compelling evidence of potential obstruction of Justice And Corruption in this case as well, so thank you again for your testimony. I will make sure that you and your family has Contact Information for my office and will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that justice is done. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Biles, ms. Moroni, ms. Nichols, ms. Reisman, thank you for your testimony today. It was historic and will make a difference in the lives of people witnessing it. You do not have to wait for the judges to put numbers up on the board. You all win Gold Medals today in the cause of justice. You are excused. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We will take a 10 Minute Break why break while we set up for the next panel. [captions copyright national Cable Satellite Corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its Caption Content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [indiscernible conversations] you have done something so special for everybody else. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you get it done. Thank you. Thank you