Grassley Seeks Accountability in FBI Failure to Quickly Investigate Nassar Sexual Abuse Case

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is pushing for corrective action in the wake of a recently-released Justice Department Inspector General (OIG) report regarding the FBI’s mishandling of the investigation into Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of young athletes

 

In a pair of letters to committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Grassley provides a timeline of the committee’s work over the last few years under his leadership as chairman and that of then-Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to get answers from the FBI on their delays and inaction, which left victims unprotected and in the lurch. Grassley also presses the Justice Department to swiftly implement the OIG’s recommendations, and ensure department employees all abide by the attorney general’s guidelines to protect vulnerable victims like the minors in this case.

 

Grassley also praises the role of the free press in investigating, and perhaps spurring federal authorities to action, in this case and the similar terrible abuses inflicted by Jeffrey Epstein.

 

Full text of Grassley’s letter to Garland can be found HERE.

Full text of Grassley’s letter to Durbin can be found HERE.

 

After news of the abuse broke in 2017, the Judiciary Committee under then-Chair Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein convened the first congressional hearing and advanced legislation to protect young athletes from sexual abuse. In a 2018 letter, Committee leaders pressed the FBI for details on its handling of the Nassar investigation.

 

Grassley also testified to his concerns about the FBI’s handling of the Nassar investigation at a 2018 Senate Commerce Committee hearing and worked with that panel’s leaders to develop additional protections for young athletes, enacted as part of a Commerce Committee package.

 

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