0 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 tortizing athlete safety. i was named as gymnast two and previously identified by athlete a. this did not happen to gymnast two or athlete a. it happened to me, maggie nick -- nichols. i was elite level gymnast by the age of 13. by the time i was 14, i made the national team. i traveled internationally for four years and in 2015 at the world championship, representing our country where i won a gold medal. my olympic dreams ended in the summer of 2015. i went onto compete at the university of oklahoma where i was named first team all american and an eight time national champion. i reported my abuse over six years ago and so my family and i received few answers and have even more questions about how this was allowed to occur and why dozens of other little girls and women at michigan state had to be abused after our reporting. in sacrificing my childhood for the chance to compete for the united states, i am haunted by the fact that even after i reported my abuse, so many women and girls had to suffer at the hands of larry nassar. usa gymnastics and the fbi have betrayed me and those abused by larry nassar after i reported. it's a well documented in the oig report. after i reported my abuse, my family and i were told by their former president to keep quiet and not say anything that could hurt the fbi investigation. we now know there was a no real fbi investigation occurring. while my complaints with the fbi, larry nassar continued to abuse women and girls. during this time the fbi issued no search warrants and made no arrests. i was treated differently by usag. not only did the fbi fail to conduct a thorough investigation but they also knew that usag and the u.s. opc created a false narrative where larry nassar was allowed to retire. with his reputation in tact and return to michigan state university thus allowing dozens of little girls to be molesticed. failed to report proper authorities and the special agent in charge was seeking to become the new director of security. a job opportunity raised by steve penny. afterwards, fbi agent in charge of the investigation lied to oig investigators about what had happened. this conduct by these fbi agents including the special agent in charge who are held in high regard and expected to protect the public is unacceptable, disgusting and shameful. this committee produced a report in 2019, a courage of survivors, a call to action. it found the u.s. olympic committee and the national governing body failed to adequately respond to credible allegations against nassar. similarly, the oig report found that senior fbi officials lied to the inspector general, engaged in serious conflicts of interest and try to cover up one of the biggest child sex abuse scandals. both reports uncovered serious and possibly misconduct at the highest level of the olympic committee. despite these findings, in accountable has occurred. why would the fbi agents lie to oig investigators. why would the fbi not properly document evidence that was received. why would the fbi agent be interested in the usag presidency. these questions remain unanswered. survivors have a right to know why their jeopardy was placed into the well being of these individuals who choz not to do their job. to date no one has faced charges other than larry nassar. this hearing is one of the last opportunities to get justice. we ask that you do what's in your power to engage those in wrong doing are held accountable under the law. >> thank you. >> i want fo begin by thanking the judiciary committee, including chairman durbin and ranking member grassley for their commitment to seeking the truth for the hundreds, if not thousands who were systemically abused by larry nassar and for this committee's diligence to demand accountability regarding federal law enforcement's misconduct. i want to express my gratitude to my friends and teams to share their stories and continue for justice and reform. over the past fi years it's become painfully clear how a survivor's healing is affected by the handling of their abuse. it disgusts me that we're still fighting for the most basic answers and accountable over six years later. in 2015, it was known that at least six national team athletes had been abused by nassar. there was even one of the athletes that was abused on film. given our abusers unfettered access to children, stopping him should have been a priority. instead, the following occurred. it took over 14 months for the fbi to contact me despite my many requests to be interviewed by them. the records established that steve penny, fbi agent jay abbot and their subordinates worked to conceal nassar's crimes. steve penny arranged with the fbi to conduct my interview at the olympic training center where i was under the control and observation of usa gymnastics. the day of my interview, steve penny flew to the olympic training center and made sure i was aware he was there. i felt pressure by the fbi to con sent to nassar's plea deal. the agent made me feel my criminal case wasn't worth pursuing. special agent in charge of investigating nassar melt steve penny for beers to discuss job opportunities in the olympic movement. another fbi agent worked with steve penny to determine jurisdiction without interviewing the survivors. i was watched multiple high ranking officials at usag, resign or retire without explanation of how they may have contributed to the problem. some of whom were thanked for their service and rewarded with bonus money. my reports of abuse were not only buried but also mishandled by federal law enforcement officers who failed to follow their most basic duties. the fbi and others within both usag and usopc knew that nassar molested children and did nothing to restrict his access. steve penny and any usag employee could have walked a few steps to file a report. with the indiana child protective services since they shared the same building. instead, they quietly allowed nassar to slip out the side door knowingly allowing him to continue his work at msu, sparrow hospital, a usag club and even run for school board. he found more than 100 new victims to molest. it was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter. why did none of these organizations warn anyone? usag and uopc have a long history of enabling abuse by turning a blind eye. both organizations knew of nassar's abuse long before it became public. although you wouldn't know that by reading their press releases which would have you and their corporate sponsors believe that athletes safety comes first. we know first hand these organizations and their public statements are not to be trusted. they claim they want accountability but seek to restrict which staff can be interviewed, which documents can be examined and claim attorney-client privilege over and over again. this so-called investigation these organizations orchestrated were not designed to provide the answers we so critically need. why are we left to guess wla they deliberately ignored reported abuse. was it to protect the value of the sponsorships, the l.a. 28 bid, their own jobs, to avoid criminal liability? perhaps. why must we speculate when the facts are obtainable and the stakes are so high. why would duly sworn federal law enforcement officers ignore report of abuse by a doctor across state lines and country borders? for a future job opportunity or were there additional sin century tifrs and pressures. why must we speculate when the facts are obtainable and the stakes are so high. just as it is naive to assume the problem only rests with nassar, it's unrealistic to think we can grasp the full extent of culpability without understanding how and why usag close to ignore abuse for decades and why the interplay among these three organizations led the fbi to willingly disregards our reports of abuse. without knowing who knew what went, we cannot identify owl enablers and determine whether they are still in positions of power. we just can't fix a problem we don't understand. we can't understand the problem unless and until we have all of the facts. if we don't do all we can to get these facts, the problems we are here to address will persist and we are deluding ourselves if we think other children can be spared the normalization of abuse that i and so many others had to endure. i thank you for your time, your commitment and your genuine concern for those survivors who relied on the fbi to do anything. i welcome any questions and comments and i will answer them to the best of my ability. >> thank you. i been in a lot of committee hearings. i can't remember compelling testimony like we heard this morning ever before because you had the courage to come up and tell the world what happened to you. it is heartbreaking to think what you have been through. i thank you for being here. we have a job to do and we know it. it begins with this hearing. when it comes to abuse cases such as those that you have endured personally. there is a historic element here in that your audience including young people like yourself who are victims and survivors themselves. i have one minute in question and my question basically to the panel, anyone who cares to respond. what would you say to other young athletes who may be suffering in silence or wrestling with decision about whether to speak out? miss raisman. >> the first thing that i would want to say to anybody that's watching this that's suffering in silence or has been through something really traumatic is i support them. i believe them. just be patient with yourself, bekind to yourself. know i'm struggling too. i'm still navigating how to heal from this. healing is a roller coaster. there's some days i feel better. there's days i feel like i'm taking a bunch of steps backwards. that's okay. we're all human. we're all doing the best we can. i would encourage who is out there that's listening to tell someone when ever they feel comfortable and it's so important to have a good support system and a community around you. if you're someone out there that doesn't have a good support system, that's okay. sometimes it can take some time to find a good support system. i encourage you to not give up until you find that support that you deserve and just remember that i believe you. i support you. you are not alone and i encourage you to ask for help. >> anyone else? >> i would want to say they need know their abuse is enough. for so long we questioned because somebody wasn't fully validating us that we doubted what happened to us. that will always make the healing process take longer. i think the second that i gave that to myself is when i really began to heal and when i really began to get my voice back. that took a long time pop to reach out to other survivors and speak to them and hear their stories is what continues to help me heal and hearing all these girls speak is really what continues to make me want to be here today and help others. >> and you are. >> thank you. >> senator grassley. >> before i ask my first question in regard to something miss raisman raised, we have not forgotten why these people haven't been prosecuted. i want to put in the record a letter that i wrote the attorney general on july 16th to request that the justice department revisit its decision not to prosecute the fbi employees who failed you, all of you and a lot of you that aren't here as well. >> without objection. >> thank you very much. first of all, it's not enough just to commend you for your bravery of speaking out but by your speaking out you're helping not only young women but where ever there might be the abuse that you talk about and it's very difficult, i'm sure, in this public setting for you to speak that and we felt that from you speaking out about it. it's got to be a hard job but thank you for coming forward. i'm going to ask questions of any one of you or all you have. you decide how you want to respond to this. i hope one person will speak up. what can you tell congress and witnesses testifying today about the additional step, if any, that we could take to ensure we better protect child athletes. we heard about the agents and the fbi not doing its job or even lying to us and you heard about a bill that i am proposing but beyond those things, do you have anything you'd like to add that congress should hear from you to protect child athletes? >> i think it's really important to look at the connection between the fbi, usa gymnastic and the united states olympic and paralympic committee. we must fully understand every singling thing that happened. usa gymnastics say they have done investigations but they were not independent and the scope of the investigation matters. nobody should be offer limits. nothing should be off limits. it should go back decades. that's not been done. it's something we have been asking for for years and years. i personally would like to see all three organizations completely investigated and the scope of it matters because until we know all the facts, it's just guess work. i don't want to be guessing they will be okay. i want to know it 100% certainty that somebody that looked the other way for us isn't still in a position of power. i think the investigation is crucial. until that, i don't have any faith that things will get better in the sport. >> okay. if no one else wants to go beyond that, i'll go to my last question. i hope this isn't something so sensitive you don't feel you can talk about it, but do you have any thoughts or inputs to share about safe sport, national nonprofit entity that's been tasked by congress with handling allegations from amateur athletes? >> i personally think safe sport is -- i'm trying to be respectful here. i don't like safe sport. i hear from many survivors that they report their abuse and it's like playing hot potato where someone else kicks it over to somebody else and they don't hear back for a really long time. i think a really big issue is that safe sport is funded by usa gymnastics or the united states olympic me. if you're safe sport and you are funded by the organization you're investigating, it's not -- they are likely not going to do the right thing. i think it needs to be completely separate. i think safe sport needs a lot of work and i know from many survivors and my mom has personally reported things to safe sport and we followed up so many times. they say we can't help you or they either ignore us or pass it onto somebody else. the person they pass it onto they kick it back to them. it's a mess. the priority doesn't seem to be safety and well being. it seems to be protecting usa gymnastics and keep the p.r. >> i agree. nobody really wants to be held accountable and nobody really knows who to hold accountable. i think in order to help, there needs to be a specific person who is in charge of protecting these athletes and it falls on them when they're not. instead of it being passed around and every one just being like, we don't know what happened, whose job was that? there needs to be a specific job for that. >> thank you. i now call on senator leahy and remind me colleagues we try to make this question period concise. please do your best. >> i want to thank you all for having the courage to come here today. i can only imagine how painful it is to relive these experiences, but i think that the resilience, perseverance you are showing the world today is incredibly aadmirable. i hope young survivors who see this who feel powerless to tell their stories will feel, yes, this is the example they should tell it. i think it has to be far more than just telling the stories. obviously, like senator durbin, i've been on this committee for a long time. i cannot think of anything so moving. we're going to hear senators and others talk about accountability and justice today, but what was genuine accountability look like to you? when do you feel justice will be done for the injustices you suffer? that really should be the question we have today. i'd like to hear from all of you on that. when you feel justice will be done and what does genuine accountability look like? >> you want to try that one? >> yeah, sure. >> first going back to i probably sound like a broken record but i'm going to try hopefully today will be the one that this time i say it, it actually happens. for me accountability looks like, first of all, i think that obviously this should have never happened. one time being abused is too many. one child being abused is too many. i think a complete and full independent investigation of fbi, usag olympics and the united states olympic and paralympic committee. i also think there needs to be, when we think about a new usa gymnastics and paralympic committee, survivors need to be in the room. we need to feel like we are not adversaries to usa gymnastics. i imagine we all feel it's crazy for me to try to wrap my ahead around all we're asking for is that when a child goes into gymnastics or goes to school that they can be spared abuse. the fact we have been treat bid adversaries by so many organizations and our abuse has been diminished. we have been victim shamed online over and over again. we have been gas lit. we have been made the feel we don't matter by these organizations. i never want another child to feel that way again. mykalya mentioned this so so often survivors question themselves. they distrust how they feel. that's something i went through and especially because the fbi made me feel like my abuse didn't count and it wasn't a big deal. i remember sitting there with the fbi agent and him trying to convince me it wasn't that bad. it's taken me years of therapy to realize that my abuse was bad. it does matter and i think it's really important to also have education and prevention in the sport as well. i don't see the organizations doing enough to have every single staff member, parent, guardian doing enough. every single person should be made to recognize emotional, physical, sexual, mental abuse. everything in between. if we don't have investigation and education and prevention then this problem and this nightmare will keep happening over and over again. >> anybody else? should i assume you all agree with that. >> yes. >> so do i. thank you. i want to say. >> sorry. one more to add. we also want to see them be federally prosecuted to fullest extent because they need to be held accountable. >> thank you. >> as former prosecutor, i agree with that. thank you. >> thank you. i want to thank these four survivors joining us today. i want to tell you how much i respect and admire your courage and for sounding the alarm on a system that's abused and neglected you, that was supposed to protect you. your stories are difficult for you to tell, i know. it's taken -- it's extraordinarily important for us to hear it as hard as it is for you and us to hear. i believe your courage will inspire a generation of women to speak out that have been abused. we are all proud of your courage and the example that you set for other young women. i hope your courage in speaking out will be a step of righting the wrongs that have led to the injustices so we can ensure these mistakes will never ever be repeated. thank you for shining the light on this issue and for add voe indicating for victims