Four U.S. gymnastics stars testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the horrifying abuse they suffered at the hands of national team doctor Larry Nassar. But Nassar wasn’t the only culprit, according to these women: The FBI also failed them by refusing to take their reports seriously and, in at least one case, changing the records in an attempt to deflect blame from the agency.
Gymnast McKayla Maroney recalled how she sat down with FBI agents and told them how Nassar had molested her repeatedly. She said that after she was finished sharing her story, the agent asked, “Is that all?”
Not only did this FBI agent fail to file Maroney’s report until 17 months after she first brought her allegations to the agency, the agent also recorded statements Maroney says she did not make.
“They made entirely false claims about what I said,” she said. “They chose to lie about what I said and protect a serial child molester rather than protect not only me, but countless others.”
A report published by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General found that the FBI dragged its feet in launching an investigation into Nassar and was careless with much of the evidence handed to agents. For example, the agency didn’t bother keeping a thumb drive of an interview with Nassar in which he described his procedures using troubling language, and the FBI’s Indianapolis field office failed to inform the Michigan field office about allegations of federal crimes committed by Nassar even though many of them were committed in that area. The FBI also failed to inform state and local authorities of the allegations against Nassar, the report said.
The agents involved in Maroney’s case were William Jay Abbott, the former special agent in charge of the Indianapolis office, and Michael Langeman, a supervisory special agent. Abbott has since retired and Langeman was fired, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. But neither official has yet to face more serious consequences for ignoring and thus enabling Nassar’s abuse. Despite the discovery that the agents falsified Maroney’s statements, the Justice Department has twice declined to prosecute Abbott or Langeman.
This is just the latest example of rot within the FBI. The agency has proved repeatedly that it is incompetent and incapable of fulfilling its mission to protect and defend Americans. FBI officials failed to act ahead of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and the 2018 Parkland school shooting despite being tipped off about both ahead of time. They refused to prosecute mass sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein even after new evidence of his abuse emerged in 2016. And they failed to investigate the allegations against Nassar, allowing hundreds of other young women to suffer unbearable abuse.
You might ask, is there anything the FBI has done? Of course. The agency spent three years investigating easily debunked claims of collusion between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. It helped organize a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and it raided the home of a protester involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and seized his lego set. Don’t you feel safe?
There should be severe consequences for the FBI agents who failed Maroney and the hundreds of other gymnasts abused by Nassar. But clearly, they are not the only problem. The agency as a whole is ineffective, corrupt, and in desperate need of reform. I hope for these girls’ sakes that this happens.
