Simon Biles and Aly Raisman testify before the Senate about Nassar investigation – live updates | sports

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Welcome to the live updates of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Larry Nassar abuse scandal. Here is some background information from Reuters:

Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Aly Raisman will testify Wednesday about the sexual assault they suffered at the hands of US gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, as the US Senate examines why the FBI failed to investigate his crimes sooner.

Biles and Raisman will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee alongside former Olympic teammate Makila Maroney and former gymnast Maggie Nichols, who was the first reported victim of abuse to the USA.

The hearing comes after the Justice Department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, issued in July a scathing report that criticized the FBI for spoiling its investigation into a series of errors that allowed the abuse to continue for months.

Horowitz will also testify on Wednesday as well as FBI Director Chris Wray, who is expected to face sharp, bipartisan questioning about why agents who spoiled the investigation for their misconduct have not been prosecuted.

The FBI investigation into Nassar began in July 2015, after USA Gymnastics President and CEO Stephen Penny reported the allegations to the FBI field office in Indianapolis and provided agents with the names of three victims willing to be interviewed.

This office, which was then led by the special agent in charge, W. J. Abbott, did not open a formal investigation. The FBI interviewed only one witness months later, in September 2015, and failed to formally document that interview in an official report known as “302” until February 2017 — long after the FBI arrested Nassar for possession of sexually explicit photos of children in December 2016.

When the interview was finally documented in 2017 by an unnamed special supervisory agent, the report was riddled with “materially false information and material information omissions,” according to the Horowitz report.

The bureau also failed to share allegations with state or local law enforcement agencies.

“Children have suffered needlessly because many agents in multiple FBI offices neglected to share Nassar’s allegations with their law enforcement counterparts in state and local agencies,” prominent Republican Charles Grassley said in prepared remarks.

“What is worrying is that the assault was carried out by a person charged with his medical treatment and welfare,” he added.

Horowitz also said Abbott, who retired from the FBI in 2018, also violated the FBI’s conflict of interest policy by discussing a potential job with the US Olympic Committee while participating in the Nassar investigation.

Neither Abbott nor the unnamed supervisory special agent who blighted Nassar’s investigation has been prosecuted for their actions.

The FBI previously described Abbott’s behavior as “appalling” and said the supervisory special agent remains with the FBI but is no longer a supervisor and “is not working on any other FBI matters.”

In an earlier statement, Abbott’s attorney said he was grateful to prosecutors for bringing Nassar to justice.

Nassar, who was the lead physician for Olympic gymnasts, was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material.

The following year, he was also sentenced to up to 175 years and up to 125 years, respectively, in two separate Michigan courts for molesting gymnasts under his care. Prosecutors estimate that he sexually assaulted hundreds of women.

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