Biles breaks down as she blames ‘entire system that enabled Larry Nassar’s sex abuse’

Published

4 years ago

September 15, 2021

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Simone Biles broke down in tears as she told Congress the FBI and gymnastics officials turned a “blind eye” to former team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of her and other women.

Testifying before the Senate judiciary committee, she said “enough is enough” as she and three other US gymnasts spoke about the lasting toll Nassar’s crimes have taken on their lives.

Politicians are examining the shortcomings in the FBI investigation into Nassar, including delays that allowed him to abuse more athletes.

An internal Justice Department investigation report in July said the bureau made fundamental errors in the probe and did not treat the case with the “utmost seriousness” after USA Gymnastics first reported the allegations to the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis in 2015.

Biles, considered one of the greatest-ever gymnasts, said that after reading the report, she felt the FBI “turned a blind eye to us”.

Biles, who has won 25 world championship medals and seven Olympic medals, said she believed the abuse happened because organisations created by Congress to protect her as an athlete – USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee – “failed to do their jobs”.

Hundreds of girls and women said Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment when he worked for Michigan State and Indiana-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.

Biles, who declared herself a survivor of sexual abuse, said: “I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse.”

She said USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee “knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge”.

Appearing alongside other athletes, including Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols, Ms Biles was visibly emotional.

She said: “We have been failed and we deserve answers.”

The hearing will examine why the FBI failed to carry out an investigation sooner into Nassar, 58, who is accused of abusing up to 150 women.

A report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz in July found the bureau made a series of failures in its handling of allegations against him when they were made aware of the abuse.

During the hearing, Ms Biles also opened up about how the abuse had affected her during the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, which saw her withdraw from five final events due mental health reasons.

She added she travelled to Japan without her family due to COVID-19 restrictions.

She said: “As the lone competitor in the recent Tokyo Games who was a survivor of this horror, I can assure you that the impacts of this man’s abuse are not ever over or forgotten.

“This meant I would be going to the gym, to training, to therapy, living daily among the reminders of this story for another 365 days.”

FBI director Christopher Wray, who was not leading the agency during the original investigation, told the Senate panel that the actions of the agents who botched the investigation are inexcusable, and he announced one of the agents “no longer works for the bureau in any capacity”.

Nassar was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison on charges of possessing child sex abuse material.

A year later, he was also sentenced up to 175 years and up to 125 years in two separate Michigan courts for molesting female gymnasts under his care.

US

Trump seeking to ‘manufacture a crisis’ in Chicago, says Illinois governor

Published

8 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Trump seeking to 'manufacture a crisis' in Chicago, says Illinois governor

The governor of Illinois has accused Donald Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” over reports the US president was considering deploying the military in the state.

US newspaper The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the state capital.

It comes as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration in mainly Democrat-run cities. He recently deployed the National Guard in Washington DC.

In a statement responding to the report, governor JB Pritzker said Illinois had “received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention”.

He added: “The safety of the people of Illinois is always my top priority.

“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalising the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.”

The governor then said: “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicise Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.

“We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois.”

Officials familiar with the proposals told the Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.

The Pentagon said it would not comment on planned operations, adding: “The department is a planning organisation and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”

Mr Trump, however, told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess,” before attacking the city’s mayor Brandon Johnson and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.

Mr Johnson has not yet commented on Saturday’s reports, but said on Friday that the president’s approach to tackling crime has been “uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound”.

“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” he added.

It comes after around 800 National Guard troops were deployed in Washington DC earlier this month, despite the US capital’s mayor revealing crime in the capital was at its “lowest level in 30 years”.

According to preliminary figures from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, violent crime is down 26% in 2025 – after dropping 35% in 2024 compared with 2023.

In June Mr Trump ordered 700 US Army marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in California, during protests over mass immigration raids.

The deployment came against the wishes of state governor Gavin Newsom, who said: “The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate.

“That is not the way any civilised country behaves.”

US

Ghislaine Maxwell was given ‘platform to rewrite history’, say Virginia Giuffre’s family

Published

11 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Ghislaine Maxwell was given 'platform to rewrite history', say Virginia Giuffre's family

The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent sex trafficking accusers, have said they are “outraged” over the US Department of Justice’s release of an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell – a convicted sex trafficker and ex-girlfriend of the deceased paedophile financier Epstein – refuted several claims of child sex trafficking and abuse during the two-day-long interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.

Reacting after the transcripts of the interview were released on Friday, Ms Giuffre’s family said it gave Maxwell the “platform to rewrite history” and showed she was “never challenged about her court-proven lies”.

“As the family of one of the most prominent survivors, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we are outraged,” they said in a statement.

“The content of these transcripts is in direct contradiction with felon Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for child sex trafficking.”

Ms Giuffre’s family added: “This travesty of justice entirely invalidates the experiences of the many brave survivors who put their safety, security, and lives on the line to ensure her conviction, including our sister.”

Referencing Maxwell’s move to a minimum-security facility in Texas earlier this month, they said it “sends a disturbing message that child sex trafficking is acceptable and will be rewarded”.

“We continue to call upon the DOJ (Department of Justice) to do its job by investigating and holding accountable the many rich and powerful people who enabled Ghislaine Maxwell’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” they concluded.

Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, had previously claimed that Maxwell introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, before she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.

She sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse in August 2021 – saying he had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by Epstein.

The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.

In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.

During her interview with Mr Blanche last month, Maxwell said Ms Giuffre’s allegation against the duke “doesn’t hold water”, and denied ever introducing Epstein to him or Sarah Ferguson.

She insisted Epstein and Andrew met separately, and said “I think Sarah [Ferguson] is the one that pushed that”, before saying that allegations Andrew had sex with Ms Giuffre were untrue, as she was at her mother’s 80th birthday celebrations in the countryside outside the city.

Maxwell then claimed Ms Giuffre’s allegation that she and Andrew had sexual contact in the bathroom of her London flat was not true, as the room was not big enough.

She also claimed that an image of her standing alongside Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist was “literally a fake photo”.

During the interview with Mr Blanche, Maxwell denied ever seeing US President Donald Trump in an “inappropriate setting” and insisted she was not aware of any Epstein ‘client list’.

Under growing pressure to release files related to Epstein, as he promised to do during his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump has made a series of denials and claims about the paedophile financier.

In July, the president told reporters on Air Force One that Epstein “stole” Ms Giuffre and other young women from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Mr Trump has also floated a pardon for Maxwell, saying earlier this month that “nobody” had asked to but insisted that he has “the right to do it”.

“I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it. I know nothing about it,” he added. “I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it.

“I have the right to give pardons, I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”

Maxwell was sentenced in the US in June 2022 to 20 years in prison following her conviction on five counts of sex trafficking for luring young girls to massage rooms for Epstein to abuse. She has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

His case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories due to his and Maxwell’s links to famous people like royals, presidents and billionaires, including Mr Trump.

No one other than Epstein and Maxwell has been charged with any criminal offences.

US

Names released of five killed in Niagara Falls tour bus crash

Published

11 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Names released of five killed in Niagara Falls tour bus crash

The five people who died after a tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls crashed have been named.

The bus, with 54 passengers on board, crashed and rolled on Interstate 90 near Pembroke, about 30 miles (48km) east of Buffalo, New York, at around 12.30pm (5.30pm UK time) on Friday.

In an update on Saturday, New York State Police said that those who died were identified as:
• Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of Madhu Bani, India;
• Pinki Changrani, 60, of East Brunswick, New Jersey;
• Zhang Xiaolan, 55 of Jersey City, New Jersey;
• Jian Mingli, 56, of Jersey City;
• Xie Hongzhuo, a 22-year-old student at Columbia University, from Beijing, China.

After the student was named, Columbia University said in a statement that the faculty was “devastated”.

“This heartbreaking loss is felt deeply across our community,” it added. “We are in close contact with her family and offering them our full support.

“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with her family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy.”

Erie County Medical Center, where 21 passengers were hospitalised for injuries, said that as of Saturday afternoon, 14 patients are in stable condition but remain at the hospital.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve any other vehicles. The driver had not been charged in connection with the incident as of Friday.

State police major Andre Ray said in a news conference that the driver had become distracted, lost control and overcorrected before the bus went into the right shoulder and flipped over.

“An absolute tragedy took place,” he added. “And first and foremost, our thoughts, prayers and hearts go out to those involved, their friends and their families.”

Mr Ray added that a preliminary investigation had ruled out mechanical failure or driver impairment, and that the driver survived the crash and was cooperating with police.