The treatment that U.S. gymnasts described receiving from the FBI was “disturbing” but “shouldn’t be surprising” according to “Useful Idiots” podcast co-host Katie Halper.
“In terms of the way that these women, young women, girls were treated … it’s disturbing but it also shouldn’t be surprising,” Halper said while appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising.” “And i think that this country has a real problem with kind of the lionization of the ‘intelligence community’ and the FBI in particular.”
Halper said there was also fault to be found in how the media helps to “prop up” figures and agencies in the intelligence community despite it having a “long history of sordid activity.”
In testimonies given on Wednesday, star U.S. gymnasts like Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman described being pressured and dismissed by the FBI during its investigation into the sexual abuse committed by former physician Larry Nassar.
“The agent diminished the significance of my abuse and made me feel my criminal case wasn’t worth pursuing,” Raisman said of experience with the FBI.
FBI Director Christopher Wray offered an apology to the gymnasts on Wednesday, saying during his testimony, ““I’m sorry that so many different people let you down over and over again. And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable.”
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