The DOJ is scrutinizing how multiple FBI field offices may have failed to act on claims against NassarGETTY IMAGES
The Justice Department is "investigating how the FBI handled sexual-abuse allegations against former U.S. gymnastics national-team doctor Larry Nassar, amid claims agents failed to respond to complaints from gymnasts" in '15, according to sources cited in a front-page piece by Rebecca Davis O'Brien of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The DOJ is "scrutinizing how multiple FBI field offices acted on -- or failed to act on -- gymnasts’ claims against Nassar," starting in late July '15, when USA Gymnastics leadership "reported the athletes’ concerns to the FBI’s Indianapolis field office." Sources said that investigators are also "looking into correspondence" between former USAG CEO Steve Penny and officials at FBI field offices in Indianapolis and L.A. (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/5).
NOT HOLDING BACK: In N.Y., Macur & Belson note U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who is the ranking member of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the USOC, issued a "scathing statement" about former USAG CEO Kerry Perry’s "time in charge." Perry was forced to resign over the weekend by the USOC. Blumenthal in his statement said, "Throughout her disastrous nine-month tenure as president of USA Gymnastics, Perry demonstrated nothing but a willful and heartless blindness to the concerns of survivors who were abused by Larry Nassar." He added, "I hope that Perry’s resignation marks a turning point for USAG and sparks real change and reflection -- and I encourage USAG to seek the input of survivors when selecting a new leader" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/5).
MASSIVE CHANGE NEEDED: In California, Scott Reid notes while applauding Perry’s forced resignation, former Team USA athletes said that in order for USAG to survive, it "must change the culture that enabled Nassar’s abuse instead of treating the fallout from the scandal as a marketing issue." Former U.S. gymnast Jessica Howard characterized USAG as an organization "clearly in chaos." USAG BOD Chair Karen Golz acknowledged that the NGB is in the "midst of a 'major transition.'" Jennifer Sey is among a growing number of former Olympic and national team members who believe USAG has "already run out of time to make significant changes." With the '20 Tokyo Games less than two years away, U.S. gymnasts "train with their governing body facing the possibility of being decertified" by the USOC or "declaring bankruptcy in the face of hundreds of civil lawsuits filed by survivors of Nassar’s abuse." Sey said, "It’s hard to say if they’re going to survive at all. I think this will come down to decertification or bankruptcy. It’s hard to say which will come first. And so potentially the right move is to hire someone who focuses on their exit strategy as you do with a company when it’s going bankrupt and then rehire someone who can rebuild a new organization with new priorities but it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll survive" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 9/5).
LONGSTANDING PROBLEM: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes the turmoil that marked Perry’s brief tenure at USAG was "wholly predictable." With USAG needing a "strong and knowledgeable leader to make amends" for the Nassar crisis and "implement policies to ensure a horror like that will never happen again, the federation instead hired someone who knew nothing about the organization she would be running." As easy as it is to blame USAG, its previous board and anyone else who "sat by and watched the organization's continuing failure, this didn’t happen in a vacuum." For the better part of two decades now, the NGBs have "operated with little to no oversight." For Congress, the USOC and the NGBs, the "public outrage is so great that they have no choice now but to fix the flaws in the system." Without substantive changes, a leadership overhaul at USAG will have "little more impact than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, and it will be only a matter of time before a new scandal breaks" (USA TODAY, 9/5).
