U.S. gymnasts testify about abuse by Larry Nassar: "We have been failed"
CBSN
Washington — The nation's most celebrated and decorated gymnasts offered harrowing testimony before senators on Wednesday about the sexual abuse they suffered by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, arguing the failure of institutions like the FBI to immediately investigate allegations of abuse allowed his misconduct to continue unanswered while the number of his victims grew.
Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of a two-part hearing on the FBI's mishandling of the investigation into Nassar, who was found to have sexually abused scores of young athletes while working at Michigan State University and with USA Gymnastics. Nichols was the first victim of Nassar's to report his abuse to USA Gymnastics.
"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?" Maroney told the panel. "They had legal, legitimate evidence of child abuse, and did nothing."
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.