In her testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney said exactly what needed to be said about the FBI’s botched handling of her reports about former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse: Their inaction led to the sexual assaults of more children for over a year.
“Let’s be honest, by taking immediate action from my report, they allowed a child molester to go free for more than a year,” Maroney said. “And this inaction directly allowed Nassar’s 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 they did nothing.”
According to a recent investigation, in 2015, USA Gymnastics handed the FBI evidence of multiple sexual assaults against children, and the FBI proceeded to ignore said evidence for at least eight months. According to Maroney’s statement, her own report was not only buried during that time, but falsified:
“I want to know, who are they trying to protect? What’s even more upsetting to me is that we now know these FBI agents have committed an obvious crime. They falsified my statement, and that was illegal in itself.”
The recent Department of Justice report also found that FBI officials lied during interviews to cover up their mistakes during the investigation while one agent was actively in talks with gymnastics officials about a job working for the Olympic Committee. Following this incredibly damning report, Maroney also questioned the fact that US Deputy Attorney Lisa Monaco hasn’t even appeared at the hearings:
“Deputy General Lisa Monaco couldn’t even bring herself to be here today, and it is the Department of Justice’s job to hold them accountable. I am tired of waiting for people to do the right thing.”
Larry Nassar is currently serving a 300-year prison sentence for sexual assaults on children that date back to at least 1997. USA Gymnastics was sued by more than 500 gymnasts who claim to have been abused by the doctor.