McKayla Maroney Says FBI Made ‘Entirely False Claims’ About What She Said
It shouldn't have come down to this.
Olympic gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Simone Biles spoke out against the FBI and the Justice Department in Senate testimony Wednesday on how agents at the FBI mishandled abuse allegations that were brought against Larry Nassar. Their statement included that the FBI made false statements in the fallout from the botched investigation.
Maroney told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “they allowed a child molestor to go free for more than a year and this inaction directly allowed Nassar’s abuse to continue.” A statement followed the recounting of details Maroney previously provided on the FBI agent interviewing her about Nassar’s abuse.
Maroney added, “what is the point of reporting abuse if our own FBI agents are going to take it upon themselves and bury that report in a drawer?”
Biles and Maroney were joined by fellow gymnasts Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman, who were among hundreds of athletes assaulted by Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who is now serving a prison sentence.
Biles testified that “it truly feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us and went out of its way to protect us”. She continued saying that “a message needs to be sent: if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough.”
Allegations against Nassar were first reported to the agency in July 2015. There were months of delay that arose due to violations of protocol, according to a report released in July by the Justice Department inspector general.
The report stated that FBI officials “failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors which they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies.”
Maroney identified herself as the gymnast described in the report who spoke to the FBI about her allegations in September 2015. According to the General Inspector's report, the FBI agent who took her interview violated FBI procedures and made false statements in a summary who wrote of the interview.
“After telling my entire story of abuse to the FBI in the summer of 2015, not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented the report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” Maroney recalled.
The Justice Department General Michael Horowitz said that the false information jeopardized the criminal case brought against Nassar.
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