News Releases
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) with funding jurisdiction over the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection with jurisdiction over the health and safety of U.S. Olympic athletes – today questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray in a CJS Subcommittee hearing on the FBI Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) ongoing investigation into the FBI’s handling of sexual abuse within the Olympic movement as it pertains to the Larry Nassar case.
Last January, Sens. Moran and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) opened an investigation into USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and Michigan State University. The investigation began around the USOC’s systemic failures to protect athletes from sexual abuse and the reported filing of a non-disclosure agreement to silence a victim of abuse in relation to the Larry Nassar abuse case and has grown to encompass numerous hearings, hundreds of meetings and thousands of pages of requested documents. Click here for more information about the Members’ ongoing investigation.
Sen. Moran: Director, when you appeared before this Subcommittee last year, I asked you about issues related to the Nassar investigation, Doctor Nassar and the Olympics. You indicated an answer was difficult to give because of an OIG investigation. Since that time, the FBI has conducted an internal investigation that led to that review by the Inspector General, and we await that conclusion. I guess at this point – unless you’re willing to share more information than you were a year ago . . . I would ask you to assure me that the FBI will prioritize and take the OIG’s results and recommendations seriously.
Director Wray (0:45): Well certainly, Mr. Chairman. You know, at first I should say that our heart breaks and aches for the victims of that particular matter. As you said, there’s an Inspector General – independent Inspector General investigation – going on into the handing of that matter, and I expect to take very seriously the recommendations that we get out of the Office of the Inspector General, but that’s very much still an ongoing review.
Click Here to Watch Sen. Moran’s Full Questioning
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