US Gymnast Simone Biles To Tesitfy Before Senate Over FBI Investigation Into Sex Offender Larry Nassar

Simone Biles and other fellow U.S. Olympic gold medalists will appear on Wednesday morning before a Senate hearing into the FBI’s investigation into disgraced sports coach Larry Nassar.

Nassar served as the team doctor for the women's gymnastics team from 1978 to 2016. He was arrested in December 2016 by the FBI and was later convicted on charges of sexually molesting and assaulting over 100 female athletes. He has been collectively sentenced to over a century in prison.

Biles — along with McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman — will appear on the first panel during a Sept. 15 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee titled the investigation “Dereliction of Duty: Examining the Inspector General’s Report on the FBI’s Handling of the Larry Nassar Investigation.”

Biles, 24, widely considered one of the world’s greatest gymnasts, opened up about Nassar's abuse in a Twitter post on Jan. 18, 2018. She said that the stories of other survivors of Nassar's abuse inspired her to speak up and she faulted USA Gymnastics for not doing enough to protect female athletes.

Biles temporarily pulled out of the Summer 2020 Olympics in Tokyo to prioritize her mental health before it affected her team or resulted in physical harm. She attributed it in part to damage from being abused by Nassar.

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz will speak Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee panel. In July, Horowitz said the FBI failed to interview victims in a timely manner. The victims said Nassar had molested them and faulted the Indianapolis field office for making "fundamental errors" for failing to notify others in law enforcement of the concerns.

The bureau has come under fire from critics who accuse it of leaving the door open to more girls and women being sexually abused by Nassar through its blundering. Senators in both parties, lawyers for the victims, and victims themselves have castigated the FBI for its response. The FBI itself acknowledged its shortcomings highlighted by the report and placed the blame on "certain FBI employees" for not doing enough to stop Nassar earlier.