This morning, in this room, to answer questions about why and why now . Were going to take you live there as we go One On one with the State Attorney General who tried to build her own case against nassar. Were live out West And Kornacki at the Big Board on what happens next now that Gavin Newsom held on to his seat. And new this morning, what we just learned the Justice Department did to try and block that controversial Abortion Law in texas. Were taking you live to the pentagon with new fallout from the latest trump book, revealing what joint Chiefs Chair Mark milley said to china, why some republicans are demanding Milley Step down. We start with the hearing that is happening now behind me at the Capitol Building on the senate side. Good morning to both of you. Thank you for being with us. And, ann, let me go to you, here are the four gymnasts we expect to hear from today. Simone biles, everybody knows her. Mckayla maroney, Aly Raisman and Abbie Nichols as well. You see them on the screen. These are star gymnasts, current and former for team usa. Were waiting for this hearing to start. Talk about what we expect to hear from them and on this new reporting that the Fbi Agent, one of them, involved in this investigation, has been fired in the leadup today. Thats rather rare. What else can you tell us . It is rare, hallie. In fact, that agent was fired last week. Nbc news confirms the story first reported by the Washington Post. That agent back in September Of 2015 interviewed Mckayla Maroney about what Larry Nassar did to her when he was working for Usa Gymnastics. And that agent apparently did nothing about it. And the case went nowhere. And so Usa Gymnastics went to the Fbi Los Angeles Field office with the same complaints and an agent there interviewed Mckayla Maroney and that same day that office opened an investigation into Larry Nassar. And thats going to be at the heart of this, because these young women, these four young women who you see there who have a Treasure Trove of gymnastic medals among them, they were really failed by adults every step of the Way And Today the Senates Interest is in why the fbi mishandled this case so egregiously. In fact, they think that between the time that the agent in indianapolis interviewed maroney and the time that the Fbi Office actually picked up the case there were as many as 70 young gymnasts who were molested by Larry Nassar. And thats the really tragic outcome here. Yeah. And incredibly so, anne. We know the gymnasts are in The Room now as Senator Durbin is beginning that Opening Statement. And Senate Judiciary handles oversight of the fbi. Thats why this committee is working on this. You can see i think thats Mckayla Maroney, that is, sitting there in the middle, lined up, as they get ready to deliver their Opening Statements. There they are. The four gymnasts testifying today including simone biles. Put into perspective for us the significance of what were about to see. This is titled dereliction of duty. Which is the criticism from some coroners about the mishandling of the way the fbi dealt with this. And important to note this fbi investigate took place before Chris Ray became director. So help us put this into context. Its been six years since Usa Gymnastics received the allegations of Sexual Misconduct against Larry Nassar. It has been five years since my colleagues and i at the Indianapolis Star had published the first allegations against him before the public. And so there has been a lot of frustration for the survivors and im sure youll hear some of that today. With the fact that it has taken this long to get to this point, when a lot of this information has been out there for quite a while and also the fact that there is still questions, six years after this started, that still are unanswered. And what do we expect to hear from Director Wray when he testifies later on this morning . It is important to keep in mind that Chris Ray did not run the fbi when this happened. He became director later. He is said to be very angry, outraged in fact, about how this was handled. And we expect to hear from him what kind of guidelines he has put in place to make sure this doesnt happen again. Hallie . Marisa, some of the words used by the senators who will be questioning witnesses are alarming, shocking, heart breaking. They talked about misconduct. They talked about insufficient accountability. What are some of the key questions youre looking for today, marisa . I think there is still questions based on what we have been told about exactly what happened had they received that report, what was the relationship between members of the Fbi And Usa gymnastics, and certainly those questions have been out there for a long time. And so unfortunately as you pointed out, there are some people who wont be there who are the people who really could answer some of those questions. And so i think today for the survivors what they have said is there really have been all along looking for accountability here. And so i think that will be sort of the theme of what you see today. Marisa, and anne thompson, thank you for being with us. Anne, well be watching for more of your reporting throughout the day here on msnbc and tonight on nbc nightly news. As we stay with this live hearing here and right now Senator Dick Durbin is delivering his Opening Statement, we expect more to follow, i want to bring in michigan Attorney General dana nessel. She oversaw an investigation of the handling of the allegations against nassar. Good morning and thank you for being with us. Thanks for having me. Let me get your reaction first. Our new reporting on the firing of the former Fbi Agent who first interviewed Mckayla Maroney. Well, i mean, clearly it is awful, but it is hardly surprising given what we saw throughout the process of the investigation and later the prosecution of Larry Nassar. And several people who were affiliated with him at michigan State University. But, you know, i think the important thing to remember is during this lengthy delay that occurred, because the fbi failed to investigate, failed to notify local authorities, that this Fbi Agent clearly used this as an opportunity to advance his own career rather than actually investigate and pursue charges against Larry Nassar, during that entire time, remember, hes working at michigan State University. And he is, of course, continuing to molest and sexually abuse young women and girls and all during that time period he could have been stopped had the fbi done their job. So this is a failure at all levels for Law Enforcement. But unfortunately i think it is indicative of what was the larger culture. And recall just a few years before that, in detroit, they discovered 10,000 untested Rape Kits that had just been sitting on a shelf, because Law Enforcement didnt bother didnt think it was worthwhile to pursue any of those 10,000 cases. So, you know, this is a problem we have seen over and over again and if anything i think the Larry Nassar case was really brought to the forefront the fact that for many years women and girls were simply not believed when they made reports of Sexual Abuse and hopefully thats changed as a result of all this. Let me ask you, youll be listening for today, short of the documents you wanted from the michigan State University for that investigation, what would you need to see or hear potentially today that could cause you to reopen this case . Is there anything that you could hear today that might make a difference there . Well, im not going to say that it is not possible. Obviously were awaiting on what is over 6,000 documents that michigan State University has refused to provide to us, even though, of course, recall that msu is the one that asked for the investigation by the department of Attorney General to begin with. So, of course, you know, the fact they would request such an investigation and refuse to cooperate in the investigation, that they started, of course is, you know, i think disappointing on every level. But, of course, were going to be paying close attention. Well see whats said and see if there is anything possible that leads us to see that there are other individuals that might have been involved, which we quite frankly have suspected for quite some time. So im not ruling anything out. Okay. Before i let you go, i want to know what did the fbi director, what he needs to say to you, and to americans today to make clear this kind of thing will not happen again. What do you hope to hear from him . Well, i want to see very specifically what theyre planning to do, what kind of proactive and protective measures theyre putting in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever possibly happen again and i think it has to be a situation where you have a number of people who are advised about the same set of circumstances, so you dont have one person in charge that through their failure to pursue allegations can really halt an entire investigation, even one of this nature that involved hundreds and hundreds of sexual assault victims. Michigan Attorney General dana nessel, thank you for being with us this morning on a morning when the eyes of washington are certainly in that hearing room. We appreciate that. Were going to be taking this hearing live as soon as we start to hear from the gymnasts. You see them on the screen on the left side there. And right now were hearing Opening Statements from Senator Durbin, senator grassley, there will be more Opening Statements from other members of congress. And then Jerry Moran is introduce the gymnasts. As soon as we get closer to hearing from them, well come back and take this. We want to get to some other big headlines this morning including one Big One in the world of politics. That is california governor Gavin Newsom Holding On to his seat out west, with 63. 9 of californians voting against recalling him, 36. 1 voting for the recall, almost identical to joe bidens 63 to 34 win in the state in 2020. Jacob soberoff, In The End, we talked three weeks ago about how close the polling was and In The End it wasnt that close. What is the big takeaway from Governor Newsom and his team on this . Reporter it was not even close. Governor newsom, including yesterday when i talked to him, continued to repeat this mantra, polls dont vote, people vote. Hell head back to work in the State Capitol here this morning. Not only did he say he was humbled by it and validated by it, he said it is a validation of the democratic agenda moving forward. I want to play a little bit for you of what he had to say last night. Watch this. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to peoples right to vote without fear of fake Fraud Or Voter suppression. Reporter ultimately this is a 21 democratic state. And the results of the election reflected that. Steve can tell you this better than i can, but since the 2003 recall election, the democratic electorate has grown here in california. On all these issues, even the president of the united states was saying were crises, whether it is covid or wildfires or economic inequality or rising crime, it is that we want Gavin Newsom to be the guy to lead us through all the crises and now he has that chance. Jacob soboroff, long night for you. Thank you for being with us. To steve kornacki. As we do, jacob mentioned one of the reasons why Gavin Newsom won, right . Our political team over at first read named that as one of three big reasons why he succeeded here. The significant advantage that democrats have over republicans in california, second, they describe how Larry Elder is no arnold schwarzenegger. And by that we mean elder, very much a staunch conservative, schwarzenegger more moderate in the gop, and third, polls show californians really support vaccines and Mask Mandates which elder was saying he would eliminate. Talk us through the numbers here, what sealed the deal and where this goes next. I would offer just a different number, Gavin Newsom was no Gray Davis. Gray davis was the governor who was recalled in 2003 and it jumped out me when i saw the Exit Poll last night, the opinions about Gavin Newsom, his leadership of the state, his leadership, decisions on covid questions, a lot more popularity there than there was for Gray Davis, Gray Davis had Rock Bottom numbers when he got recalled in 2003. A strong appetite to push him out. You look at the Exit Poll last night and look at these results and i think that Baseline Appetite to kick out the governor just wasnt there in california. You mentioned it, hallie, that similarity to the president ial result here, 6334 the biden trump result. And i think this No Vote will come down maybe a point or two as the final votes come in. I wouldnt expect much of a big change from this. This map here, geographically, the Bay Area overwhelming opposition in the Bay Area. Southern california, los angeles, orange county, san diego county, inland empire, strong opposition to the recall too there. That looks very similar to what we saw in the biden trump race, very similar to what we see in most state wide races in california these days. One other thing i think is worth pointing out here, you mentioned Larry Elder, the replacement candidate, that phased the election. Folks were voting on two things here. There was the recall. Then if the recall passed, they simultaneously elect the next governor and i think this is worth pointing out, democrats told their voters were not really going to put up a candidate here. We want you to leave it blank, ignore it, were going to focus on this. Just check this out. You can see right now more than 9 Million votes have been cast in the recall race, the recall failing overwhelmingly. If you look at that Replacement Race, Larry Elder does lead the way here. But what is interesting is if you add up all the votes that have been cast so far in the Replacement Race, there are more than 4 Million fewer votes have been cast in the Replacement Race than were cast in the recall race. That means that right now more than 4 Million people if went to the polls in california, voted no on the recall, and just left this one blank. That was the democratic strategy. Ignore it. Deprive it of oxygen. Doesnt matter who wins if newsom doesnt get recalled. I got to say, that strategy has been validated here. It is a great point. Steve, thank you so much. We should note too, Larry Elder, stay tuned is what he said about a potential Future Campaign in california. This may not be the last we see of him. Steve, great to see you at the Big Board. Thank you for being with us. Were keeping an ear on the hearing room. Well take you there live when simone biles and the other gymnasts begin their Opening Statements. First, the doj making new moves overnight to try and block texas from enforcing its new Abortion Law. We got a live report on that developing news coming up. Plus, new reaction to some of the most explosive revelations from the new book peril, including what the nations top general was secretly telling china behind then president trumps back to avoid potential war. Now the new calls from some republicans for the chair of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff to step down. Well have it all. Iefs of staff down well have it all. I looked on ancestry and just started digging and found some really cool stuff. It was just a lot of fun. Just to talk to my parents about it and to send it to my grandparents and be like, hey this person were all related to look at this crazy stuff they did in arizona 100 years ago. It actually gives you a picture of their life, so you get to feel like youre walking the same path they did. You booked a cozy vrbo mountain cabin. [laughs] with a kitchen where everyone can chef. [laughs] a Family Room where you can let your hair down. And a backyard that is a treelined living room. But the Thing Theyll remember forever . Watching the game together once again. The time for getting back together is now. Find it on vrbo. At usaa, weve been called too exclusive. Because we were created for officers. But as weve evolved with the military, weve grown to serve all whove honorably served. No matter their rank, or when they were in. A marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from 73. And even his kids. And their kids. Usaa is made for all whove honorably served and their families. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. And thats exactly why you should join. Introducing xfinity rewards. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. Our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. Enjoy rewards like Movie Night specials. Xfinity mobile benefits. And exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. Hey its me. The longer youve been with us. The more rewards you can get. Like sharpening your Cooking Skills with a top chef. Join for free on the Xfinity App and watch all the rewards float in. Our thanks. Your rewards. This morning, were learning the biden administration is asking a federal judge to block at least temporarily that restrictive new Abortion Law in texas. This is an Emergency Motion filed overnight by the Justice Department. And the doj is arguing the law prevents women from exercising their constitutional rights and should at the very least be put on hold while courts try and figure out the laws legality. The Supreme Court as you remember decided not to get involved a couple of weeks ago and let that law take effect. I want to bring in Shannon Pettypiece at the white house. This request is in front of a federal judge in west texas, not in front of the Supreme Court, right . What do we know about timing and the administrations plan at the Judging Ruling doesnt go the way they hope it does . Reporter as you mentioned, the administration taking a different approach here, rather than going through the federal courts, the Supreme Court, theyre going through the State Court, hoping that they will see this State Court take action, that the Supreme Court wouldnt. And that has essentially put a temporary halt on this law. If it the judge does grant this motion, that would mean that women who are beyond the six week limit in their pregnancy would be able to continue having abortions in the state, that law would the not be enforced while the lawsuit plays out here. There is no timeline on when we could get a ruling from the judge. Bigger picture, stepping back, the biden administration said this is a key priority, the president has put out statements blasting the law calling it extreme, saying it blatantly violates womens constitutional rights. But beyond what were seeing the Justice Department do, their hands are really essentially tied at the executive Branch Level and we know there is not enough republican support in congress to be able to get legislation through at the federal level. That wow allow abortions to proceed in texas. Politically we are starting to see democrats including the president try and use this as a campaign issue. We saw the president in California Campaigning for that California Recall for Governor Newsom there, bringing this issue up, and saying that womens rights are under assault here, and politically, of course, we know majority of 54 of americans are in support of abortion in all or most cases. Something democrats at least are looking to leverage from that aspect, hallie. Shannon pettypiece staying all over this one for us. Thank you very much. This morning, you got more and more republicans calling for the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff. Why . Because general Mark Milley has some explosive revelations in a new book on the final days of Donald Trumps presidency, at least that are shared in this book. It is called peril, from Bob Woodward and robert costa, you probably know his name if you watch the show. They write the nations top general believed Donald Trump was suffering a mental decline after losing the election. They write milley took steps to limit the president from potentially start a war or launching nuclear weapons. Among the Revelations Milley summoned his staff to a secret meeting, telling top commanders you never know what a president s Trigger Point is. The book reveals a Phone Call he took from pelosi. Milley assured chinas top general the u. S. Was not planning to attack. If we are going to attack, im going to call you ahead of time it not going to be a surprise. As you might imagine, the former president Donald Trump had plenty to say about this. Launching into General Milley over on newsmax. Here he is. If it is actually true, which is hard to believe, that he would have called china, and done these things and was willing to advise them of an attack or in advance of an attack, thats treason. Nbcs Courtney Kube is at the pentagon for us. General milley will testify in front of congress later this month. These revelations are almost certainly to come up. Some said milley, you should resign, step down. There is almost no Chance I Hell thats going to happen, right . Yes. Hes going to take a lot of questions. Here we are 24 hours ago waiting for this hearing later this month to hear from General Milley and secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about the withdraw from afghanistan. This will be a big part of the questioning presumably for General Milley later this month. Now, hes been through this. Two months ago there was a book that came out where he had to answer for a number of other situations that he was that were detailed that he was involved in when Donald Trump was president , and he was very careful at the time to not talk about anything in that book. I suspect thats the same thing well hear from at this point his office is not commenting on anything. But defense officials are not denying the fact that many of the things that are described, particularly the Phone Call that you mentioned with his chinese counterpart, theyre not denying that call took place. They are casting a little bit of doubt on the on some of the specific quotes that are attributed to General Milley in the book, though. What is interesting is that this is on this show as you know we cover republican things related to former president Donald Trump, we covered a lot of books that have come out over the summer and i keep finding myself saying General Milley reportedly said. It seems that hes been front and center on some of the most explosive allegations, how do you think that plays for him in the Pentagon Court . So, look, hes in a in what is supposed to be a very apolitical position, but you can make the argument he, especially in the last 18 months or so, has been pulled into more political situations, sometimes not of his doing and other times of his own volition, pulled into political situations more than any other chairman of the joint chiefs potentially since ronald reagan. And look back, june of 2020, when he was the infamous walk that he had to come out and apologize for over at when there were the protests and the riots here in d. C. From then on hes been pulled into more and more political situations. Now hes being described as doing things that are not normally what we think of the chairman of the joint chiefs of doing, someone in uniform. Thats part of the reason we will not hear from him directly addressing any of these allegations is because we doesnt want to be pulled further in. The reality is if you read these excerpts, it is very clear that many of these things not only happened, but either he or someone in his office was clearly complicit in talking to these authors. These are specific anecdotes that occurred that hes described in with very specific quotes. So Courtney Kube, nobody knows the pentagon like you do. Thank you. Well turn to you often. I want to bring in mark murray, senior political editor. Mark, there is this other anecdote in the book that in late december then Vice President Pence called fellow Hoosier And Somebody else who is a former Vice President Dan Quayle if he should honor that Demand And Quayle said, mike, you have no flexibility on this, none, zero, forget it. How do you see take it as a whole how do you see the political fallout playing out here . To me the takeaway is just i think the country needs to hear a little bit more from former Vice President mike pence, and to be able to get his side of the story and particularly as house democrats are looking at the January 6th incident with their select committee along with Liz Cheney and adam kinzinger. And, you know, to me, when you read this excerpt, it does look like the former Vice President was looking for a way out to kind of bend to former president Donald Trumps will on this thing, on is there anything out of me . And of all people Dan Quayle comes and says you have no out. There is no way to get out of this. There is no power you have. And to me the takeaway is just how pence was looking for a way out. Mark murray joining us here for that discussion. Mark, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Were keeping an eye on whats happening at the building behind me here where four elite gymnasts, four of the nations top gymnasts are set to testify about the abuse they suffered under their former coach Larry Nassar. You see Senator Blumenthal delivering his Opening Statement now. We expect two more Opening Statements before they make their remarks. We want to take a quick break. Well be back with more of this. Well be back with more of this. What are you wearing, dog . Theyre pants, dog. No, these are pants, dog. No way. My pants are pants, dog. Pizza on a bagel we can all agree with that. Uhm whatever those are, theyre not pants. [ ding ] i was drowning in student loan debt. Then i discovered sofi. Lower interest rate. My principal is going down. Sofi is a place where you can start to tackle those money goals today. [slow electronic notes fade in] [fast upbeat music begins] those money goals today. [music stops] and release. [deep exhale] [fast upbeat music resumes] [music stops] back on capitol hill, you got senators making Opening Statements in the hearing on that investigation into disgraced gymnastics coach Larry Nassar and the explosive Inspector Generals report on how the fbi handled it. Youre looking now at the four top gymnasts all seated there, about to have their turn, sometime in the next probably five to eight minutes here. I want to bring in Sports Journalist Mary pylon, Author And Host of twisted. Along with kristen gibbons, an msnbc legal analyst. I want to start with you, mary and go back to the live shot of The Room. We just saw somebody leave, she was so overcome, the gymnasts sitting here, there is a deep toll mentally and emotionally, Mental Health was a big focus for simone biles. She talked about this kind of all playing into everything, can you talk a little bit about that piece of it, right . The toll that this has taken on those young women sitting in The Room right now . Yes, the psychologist might use the term retraumaization. These women had to repeatedly say what happened and, you know, Larry Nassar is behind bars, but now the story is shifting to who allowed him to Practice Medicine for years and continue to abuse people, when they did the right thing, they came forward bravely. The vast majority of people who saw Larry Nassar werent olympians, they were little girls who were trying to compete in gymnastics and yet you see these incredible athletes using their Star Power to bring attention to the hundreds of people, so this Case Isnt going away, but there is still a lot of unanswered questions. Why did the fbi sit on this for so long . Thats what the hearing is getting at the heart of, every level of the system failed these girls and women and theyre not going to let it go and theyre going to keep fighting for justice. What can come out of this hearing that might make a difference for not just these survivors, the women that we see sitting here in the front row, but other survivors like them . A lot can come out of this to make a difference. You know, as mary was saying, these four young women courageous, they do carry with them an elite holding and so their voice is going to carry with it a platform of credibility that many Sex Crime Survivors do not get. And so by talking about their disclosure, how difficult it was for them, how traumatic the instance of Sexual Abuse was and how retraumatizing it has been to go from 2015 for some such as miss nichols, 2018, disclosure, up until today and have a systematic failure of the Usa Gymnastics, fbi and all the entities that are supposed to be here to protect and serve and not allow Sexual Abuse to go unprotected, theyre going to be able to find those answers and Christopher Wray, he wasnt in office at the time, hes going to have to answer to that, hes going to have to answer to why not one, but two different offices didnt coordinate with state and local authorities. Why certain documents were not documented, why their allegations went uninvestigated. Theyre going to be able to speak and this isnt unique to government. This exists in all institutions. And by bringing it to the forefront, it is going to cause not only changes within the fbi, but hopefully institutional changes as well. Mary, talk about why these four, why these four women. We got todays Hearing Split into two parts or two panels. The gymnasts will be first, later on today we expect to hear from the people in the second panel including the current fbi director. Talk about why the four specific gymnasts experiences are important to telling the story about the mishandling of the case. Sure, so in addition to being incredible representatives of their sport and, you know, internationally famous for their performances thrksz he were critical to what happened with the fbi case. These women came forward in 2015. When the fbi sat on it, they he was allowed to continue practicing at michigan state. And the question then becomes if athletes of their stature can come forward, at what point the fbi was courting a Job Offer from Steve Penny the head of Usa Gymnastics. They represent i think an extreme of trying to have someone understand what their complaints are and seek justice. I think thats going to be key to hear what we hear today, why has there not been a consequence within the fbi, only this week was one person fired. I think the fbi and the Inspector Generals comments are going to be even more revealing about what was going on inside this agency, what did we not see what did we not know about why this was sat on for so long when the ladies were trying so hard for so many years . We talked about why the Judiciary Committee is holding this hearing, they have jurisdiction for oversight in this particular instance given the Fbis Involvement here. What kind of relief do you think this committee can offer to victims of nassar . It gives them a voice. It allows them to speak to the public about how, what happened to them and force some type of institutional change. When you talk about relief, particularly for survivors, sometimes they just want to be heard and so the relief can be unique to each individual person. But the fact that these young ladies and, you know, nassar has been convicted, but the fact that these young ladies are still willing to subject themselves to retraumaization i can only think that the relief they will want is to see change so that no other young lady or no other young child has to engage in the undetected, uninvestigated abuse that they had to suffer through. And the fact that, again, they still to this day have unanswered questions that really should have been provided to them on day one. Mary, what is your reaction and you reference this a moment ago that Fbi Agent, one of them had retired, one of them we just learned overnight is first reported by the Washington Post was fired from the agency. Your thoughts there . Yeah, so even though Christopher Wray was not at the fbi at the time of this case, one question i have is what systems and changes happened within the fbi and some of the policies the fbi had werent even being followed you had evidence being mishandled, interviews not conducted properly, they were arguing about jurisdiction, so it isnt just what policies have changed, so something like this wont happen again, because i think one of the big drumbeats of the survivors is they want this to stop, right . But also why are we only hearing about this now . This Inspector General report was highly anticipated and so were far from any resolution here. And we want to make sure something like this never happens again. I just was looking at our screen here, mary and kristen. It looks like were about to see these four gymnasts get sworn in. The woman who left The Room was jessica howard, former gymnast, overcome with emotion, walked out, she has since returned as we are now seeing again simone biles, Mckayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman. We believe simone biles is scheduled to speak first. We want to listen to their introduction, the swearing in and the Opening Statements now. To come to speak to us today. Our first panel has four witnesses who are members and former members of Usa Gymnastics. They are olympians and national and international gymnastics champions. Each of them is also a survivor. In alphabetical order, our first witness, simone biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. She is the first woman to capture five all around World Championship titles and most decorated gymnast, male or female, in World Championship history. 25 medals overall. She is a seventime olympic medalist, her extraordinary accomplishments have received widespread recognition including two associated press female athlete of the year awards. Mckayla maroney, dubbed the fierce five of the 2012 summer olympics, won a Gold Medal in Team Competition and individual Silver Medal in the vault. She was also a member of The American team at the 2011 World Championships where she won Gold Medals in the Team And Vault competitions and the 2013 World Championships where she defended her Vault Title and we frequently see her on Tv Jumping on a roof. Our next witness, Maggie Nichols, led the university of oklahoma womens Gymnastics Team to team national championships in 2017 and 2019. Also winning six individual titles. She represented the united states at the 2015 World Championships where she won a Gold Medal in Team Competition and a Bronze Medal on floor exercise. She also holds several Usa Gymnastics national championship medals. Finally, Aly Raisman, one of the most accomplished american gymnasts of all time, twotime olympian, Team Captain of the 2012 and 2016 women gymnasts team, captured six olympic and four World Championship medals including individual Silver Medal in the 2016 olympic all around and Gold Medals in Team Competition in 2012 and 2016. A leader on and off the floor, raisman uses her platform to advocate for Abuse Prevention and education. I thank you each for being here. Let me lay out the mechanics of the rest of this hearing. After we swear in the witnesses on the first panel, which is the tradition of this committee, each witness will have five minutes to provide their Opening Statements. There will then be one round of questions and this extraordinary procedure. Each senator will have one minute of questioning. So please honor your allotted time to ask a question. Following that we will switch to our second panel, once again have five minute Opening Statements for witnesses, after Opening Statements another round of questioning, each senator will have five minutes for questions. For the witnesses please stand to be sworn in. If you raise your right hand. Do you affirm the testimony you are about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole Truth And Nothing but the truth so help you god . Let the Record Show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Be seated. Miss biles, youre first, if youd like to give your Opening Statement. Sorry if you 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 amateur sports. Your commitment to ensuring the safety of gymnasts and 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 i am a gymnast who trained at this level of this sport as an elite gymnast i had the honor to represent the united states of america in multiple international competitions and including World Championships and the olympic games. Over the course of my Gymnastics Career i have won 25 World Championship medals. That record means so much to me and i am proud of my representation of this nation through gymnastics. I am also a survivor of Sexual Abuse. And i believe without a doubt that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue are directly the result of the fact that the organizations created by congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, Usa Gymnastics and the olympic and paralympic committee failed to dhoir jobs. Nelson mandela once said there can be no keen revelation of a societys soul than the way in 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 gymnast, olympic athlete, or any individual to experience the horror that i and hundreds of others have endured before, during and continuing to this day in the Larry Nassar abuse. To be clear sorry take your time. To be clear i blame Larry Nassar and i also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. Usa gymnastics and the United States Olympic And Paralympic Committee knew that i was abused by their official Team Doctor long before i was ever made aware of their knowledge. In may of 2015, rhonda fan, 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 all was happening until the Indianapolis Star published its article in the fall of 2016 entitled former Usa Gymnastics doctor accused of abuse. Yet while i was a member of the 2016 usa olympic team, neither usag, uslpc, nor the fbi ever contacted me or my parents. While others had been informed and investigations were ongoing, i had been left to wonder why i was not told until after the rio games. This is the largest case of Sexual Abuse in the history of american sport. And although there have been a fully independent investigation of the Fbis Handling of the case, neither usag nor uslpc 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 ask that your work be guided by the same question that Rachel Hollander and others have asked, how much is a little Girl Worth . I raise my voice so no little girl must endure, what i, the athletes at this table, and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassars Guise of medical treatment. Which we continue to endure today. We suffer and continue to suffer because no one at fbi, u. S. Ag did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed and we deserve answers. Nassar is where he belongs but those who enabled him should be held accountable. If they are not, im convinced this will continue to happen to others. It feels like the fbi turned a Blind Eye to us and went out of the way to help Protect Usag and usopc. A message needs to be sent. If you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough. I will close with one final thought. This horrific abuse continues to live with all of us. As the lone competitor in the recent Tokyo Games, who is a survivor, the impacts of this Mans Abuse are not ever over or forgotten. The announcement in the spring of 2020 that the Tokyo Games were to be postponed for a year meant that i would be going to the gym to training, to therapy, living daily among the reminders of this story for another 365 days. That bz proven to be exceptionally difficult burden to carry. When required to tokyo without the support of any of my family. I am a strong individual and i will persevere. I never should be been left alone to suffer the abuse of Larry Nassar. The only reason i did was because of the failures that lie at the heart of the abuse that you are now asked to investigate. Again, i appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with this committee today. I want to 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. Thank you. Thank you, miss biles. Miss maroney. You have to Push The Button on your microphone. Are we on . All right. Good morning. Thank you chairman durbin, ranking Member Grassley and members of the Judiciary Committee for inviting me to spoke today. I was molested by the u. S. Jam Gymnastics Team and olympic Team Doctor, Larry Nassar. He was more of a pedophile than a doctor. Im trying to bring to your Attention Something disturbing and illegal. After telling my story to the fbi in the summer of 2019, not only did the fbi not report my abuse but when they documented my report 17 months later, they made false claims about what i said. After reading the office of Inspector Generals Oig Report, i was shocked and deeply disappointed at this narrative they chose to fabfabricate. They chose to lie about what i said and protect a serial Child Molester than protect not only me but countless others. Jay abbot and his subordinates did not want you to hear. Its time that i tell you. In the summer of 2015, i was scheduled to speak to the fbi about my abuse with Larry Nassar over the phone. I want too sick to meet with anyone in person and talk about this abuse could give me ptsd for days. I chose to speak about it to try to make a difference and protect others. I remember sitting on my Bedroom Flr for three others about what happened to me. I had not told my mother about the facts. I thought as uncomfortable and hard and it was to tell my story, 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 by nassar in extreme detail. They told me to start from the beginning. I told them about the sport of gymnastics, how you make the national team and hold up i came to meet Larry Nassar when i was 13 at a texas camp. I told them that the first thing Larry Nassar ever said to me was to change into shorts with no underwear because that would make it easier for him to work on me and within minutes, he had his fingers in my vagina. Fbi then immediately asked did he insert his fingers into your rectum. I said no, he never did. They asked if he used gloves. I said no, he never did. They asked if this treatment ever helped me. I said no, it never ditd. This treatment was 100 abuse and never gave me any relief. I then told the fbi about toke yore, the day he gave me a Sleeping Pill for the Plane Ride to work on me later that night. That evening i was naked, completely alone with him on top of me molesting female more hours. I thought i was going to die that night because there was no way he would let me go, but he did. 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 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 were 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. U. S. A. Gymnastics and fbi were working together to conceal that Larry Nassar was a predator. I told them about london so he could molest me for hours twice a day. I told them how he molested me right before i won my team Gold Medal. How he gave me presence, bought me bread when i was hungry. I sent them screen shots of nassar last text to me which was i love how you see the world with rose colored glasses. I hope you continue to do so. This was very clear, Cookie Cutter Pedophilia and abuse in is important because i told the fbi all of this and they choelz to falsify my report and not only minimize my Abuse But Si license me yet again. I thought give Dn Severity of the situation they would act quickly for the sake of protecting other girls but it took them 14 months to report anything when Larry Nassar, in my opinion, should have been in jail that day. They sat idly by as dozens of girls and woman continued to be molested by Larry Nassar. According to the Oig Report about 14 months after i disclosed my abuse to fbi, nearly year and a half later, Fbi Agent who interviewed me many 2015, decided to write down my statement. Statement that they determined to be materially false. Lets be honest, by not taking immediate action from my report, they allowed a Child Molester to go free for more than a year. This Inaction Allowed Nassars 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 drawer . They had legal, legitimate evidence of Child Abuse and did nothing. If theyre not going to protect me, i want to know who are they trying to protect . Whats even more upsetting to me is that we know that these Fbi Agents have committed an obvious crime. They falsified my statement and thats illegal in itself. No recourse has been taken against them. The Department Of Justice refuse to prosecute these individuals. Why . Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monoco Couldnt bring herself to be here today. Its the department of Justice Job to hold them accountable pm im 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 Nassar for over a year. To not indict the agents is a disservice to me and my teammates. Its a disservice to the system was built to protect us from abuse. It was a disservice to every victim who suffered needless si after the hands of Larry Nassar after i spoke up. Why are public servants whose job is to protect are getting away with this . This is not justice. Enough is enough. I ask you to hear my voice. Please doe all that is in your power to ensure these individuals are held responsible and accountable for ignoring my initial report. For lying about my initial report and for covering up for a Child Molester. In closing, i would like to express my deep gratitude to the United States Senate a very Power Institution that from the very beginning has fought for us rather than against us. Thank you. I welcome any questions. Thank you. Miss nickols. Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I want to thank you for your commitment to pry