. >> can i introduce jessica howard to say a few words. >> hi. this is probably the first time i've stood in washington, d.c., listening to all of these words and all of these promises and all of these you're so courageous and all of these you're so brave comments. and i actually believed that something was going to be done. when i was at the beginning of the end of my career, my coach pulled me aside right before i got kicked out of the gym forever and she said that my failure in life was going to be that i trusted people too much and i spoke too freely. and that has haunted me like some sort of ghost because i've been torn between wanting to trust people when they say things and wanting to believe that they are going to do the right thing and then actually seeing somebody do the right thing. there are only a handful of people who have, and that handful happens to be part of the most powerful organization in the united states, one of the most powerful organizations, the senate. i don't know how we got to be here today, but i can just say thank y

. >> may i introduce jessica howard to say a few words. >> yes. >> hi. this is probably the first time i have stood in washington, d.c., listening to all of these words and all of these promises, and these you are so courageous and you are so brave comments, so i can believe something will be done. when i was in the beginning at the end of my career, my coach pulled me aside just before i was kicked out of the gym forever and she said that my failure in life was going to be that i trusted people too much, and i spoke too freely, and that has haunted me some sort of ghost, because i have been torn between wanting to trust people when they say thing, and wanting to believe when they are going to do the right thing, and then actually seeing people do the right thing. and there are only a handful, and that handful happens to be the most powerful organization in the united states, and as one of the most powerful organizations is the senate, and i don't know how we got to be here today, but i can just say thank you from the bottom of my heart, because it has p

jessica howard is one of first gymnasts to come forward. i think she was the third. she left me a voice message. she was nervous. she's especially a hero on that front. in terms of what's going on at the fbi, i can't assess how many bad apples or good apples are over there, but what i see is five years after our first story. five years when rachel came forward to talk about having been abused by larry nassar. i've years after that, we have this. we're trying to sort out the failures of the fbi. not only that, michigan state university still isn't releasing, i think it's 6,000 documents from its internal investigation. these survivors not only get to the point where nassar is in jail for the rest of his life but they still have to fight. f it's shameful. >> it's not just larry nassar. it's all, including the fbi agents. we know the supervisory agent in charge in the indianapolis office. why isn't the doj doing something? i don't understand why people can't answer that. do these women need the department of justice in order to have criminal complaints against all the p

. >> can i introduce jessica howard to say a few words? >> hi. this is probably the first time i have stood in washington dc, listening to all of these words and all of these -- you are so brave comments -- i sat here and actually believed that something was going to be done. when i was at the beginning of the end of my career, my coach pulled me aside before i got kicked out of the gym forever, and she said my failure in life was going to be that i trusted people too much. and i spoke too freely. that has haunted me like a ghost because i have been torn between wanting to trust people when they say things and went to believe they are going to do the right thing. and then actually seeing somebody doing the right thing -- there are only a handful of people who have. that handful happens to be part of the most powerful organization in the united states. one of the most powerful organizations, the senate. i do not know how we got to be here today but i can say thank you from the bottom of my heart. it has -- my life. i know that everybody here, all

the woman who left the room was jessica howard, former gymnast, overcome with emotion, walked out, shed as we are now seeing again simone biles, mckayla maroney, maggie nichols and aly raisman. we believe simone biles is scheduled to speak first. we want to listen to their introduction, the swearing in and the opening statements now. >> -- to come to speak to us today. our first panel has four witnesses who are members and former members of usa gymnastics. they are olympians and national and international gymnastics champions. each of them is also a survivor. in alphabetical order, our first witness, simone biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. she is the first woman to capture five all around world championship titles and most decorated gymnast, male or female, in world championship history. 25 medals overall. she is a seven-time olympic medalist, her extraordinary accomplishments have received widespread recognition including two associated press female athlete of the year awards. mckayla maroney, dubbed the fierce five of the 2012 summer olympics, won a gold medal in team

. >> jessica howard to say a few words. >> hi, something was going to be done. career, my coach pulled me ark side before i got kicked out of the gym forever. she said that my failure in life was going to be that i trusted people too much and i spoke too frely. that is has haunted me like a ghost because i've been torn between wanting to trust people when they say things and wanting to believe they are going to do the right thing and actually seeing somebody do the right thing. only a handful of people who have and that handful is part of the most powerful organization in the united states, one of the most powerful organizations, the senate. i don't know how we got to be here today, but i can just say thank you from the bottom of my heart. it has personally contributed to saving my life and i know that everybody here, all the victims, we're tired of sharing our heartbreaking story so people can have their heartstrings tugged at. people who do not -- the people that actually can take and force the laws on to the people accountable, this will get fixed. it will go

aly raisman as well as all the survivors who were other survivors were also joining us today, jessica howard, jamie dancer, kaylee lorenz. on january 25, 2018, as chairman of the senate commerce subcommittee with jurisdictional health and safety of amateur athletes, senator blumenthal, my ranking member and i opened an investigation into how usa gymnastics, the u.s. olympic and paralympic committee and michigan state university allowed a monster to assault and abuse young women for decades. early in our meeting with the survivors, one of them asked the question and it has stuck with me since them, since the beginning of our investigation, 3.5 years ago and the question was -- why was there more than one of us? i do not know how to answer that question. i do not know a human being that i would not expect to report if someone told them they were being abused to report to law enforcement to officials. and yet, time and time again, no one, no one accepted that responsibility. for these young women. why was there more than one? most recently, we learned even the federal bureau of investigation be

jessica howard, one of the victims, one of the gymnasts said the only thing we want right now is accountability, frankly. the fbi will say the local field offices, it was their jurisdiction. it wasn't the national jurisdiction. there's some debate over that. there's also definitely some conflict of interest. they detailed one of the two investigators who wasn't fired, he resigned, he was looking for a job in 2015 when these interviews were being conducted. there are a lot of questions here about institutional failure and it's not just the fbi. it's from the ground up. usa gymnastics, michigan state, the u.s. oic, the community of safe sport and it's the fbi. >> when the fbi misses a terror threat, everything changes. we change everything. the fbi was overhauled. when the fbi spends 20 years ignoring sexual abuse, what should happen? >> it's a really good question. i always think back to the fact jerry sandusky's conviction for abusing boys at penn state was in 2012. it's been a decade we have had to overhaul how we protect young athletes, children, and we haven't. these systems failed them. and

as well as all the survivors who are also joining us today, jessica howard, jamie dancer, kaylee lorentz. on january, 25, -- on january 25, with jurisdiction over the health and safety of amateur athletes, senator blumenthal, my ranking member and i opened an investigation into how usa gymnastics, the u.s. olympic and paralympic -- paralympic committee allowed a monster to assault and abuse young women for decades. early in our meeting with the survivors come up one of them asked the question, and it has stuck with me since then. since the beginning of our investigation 3.5 years ago, the question was why was there more than one of us. i do not know how to answer that question. i do not know a human beating -- human being that i would not expect report to law enforcement, two officials. yet time and time again, no one accepted that responsibility for these young women. why was there more than one? most recently, we learned even the federal bureau of investigation belongs on the list of those who failed in their responsibility, allowing for there to be more than one, more than dozens. ove