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“Little girls don’t stay little forever. They return as strong women to destroy your world.”
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“He is a predator, and he can’t be stopped unless he is behind bars for the rest of his life.”
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“She said that everyone will know, and everyone will judge me, and the judges will know as I compete.”
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“I am Jade Capua, and I am a survivor.”
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“I don’t like the word ‘victim.’ Being a victim implies a desire for pity. I am a survivor, and more so, I am me.”
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“The hardest battle I will continue to face is, even in the situations you feel most safe, you can never let your guard down.”
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“After today, I don’t plan on thinking about Larry unless I absolutely have to. I get to keep living. I get to keep looking forward to the future and what’s next. I get to keep having a rich and fulfilling life, and so do the other women who are here today and so do the other women who haven’t necessarily stepped forward.”
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“Having to relive my experiences over and over almost 20 years later brings back so many memories and emotions. I even avoid talking about it with those close to me because I get closed off and irritable.”
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“Larry Nassar is a master manipulator. His conniving and calculating behavior not only tricked me, but he tricked my mom, who was present for all my appointments as a minor.”
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“You were stripped of your title of doctor, and soon you will be known by your prison number. I find this fitting because a number is what I was to you. I will no longer be known as a number. I will be known as Dr. Danielle Moore.”
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“You hindered the trajectories of our lives that we and our parents worked so very hard for, and changed the rest of our lives in ways that we’re still realizing and dealing with every day. This is what makes this crime so heinous.”
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“Seeing him brought back all the pain of what he did to me.”
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“Because of you my life has been forever changed. I have to live with the fact that I am a victim of sexual assault.
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“My hope is that the women here, like myself, do continue to grow and heal, and become stronger than ever before, but that will be because of our actions and our strength, not yours.”
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“I am speaking simply to stand for truth and to face fear and to refuse to give fear a foothold any longer.”
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“How can I put this horrific experience into words? There are no words for this.”
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“I want to be the same Ashley to my family that they once knew.“
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“I believe in forgiveness. I’m not going to carry that for the rest of my life.”
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“What I know for sure, Larry, is this. Your legacy will not be that of a healer, of a great Olympic, Michigan State doctor, of respectable man, of a good father or husband or son. Unfortunately, your legacy is that you are quite possibly the greatest perpetrator of sexual abuse of all time.”
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“What happened to us is very, very real, even though we so desperately tried to deny it for so long.”
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“Even after my career in gymnastics was over, I still thought about what happened to me.“
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“It is my opinion that Dr. Nassar should be held accountable for his strategic and manipulative abuse.”
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“I think we can process it and we can always try to heal, but this will always be a part of me now.”
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”He hasn’t changed, he won’t change, and he will manipulate people whenever there is any opportunity, whether in the free world or even while incarcerated.”
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"You’re a serial child molester. A pedophile.”
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“I imagined hitting you if I ever got the chance to see you again.”
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“Only a monster would hurt innocent children the way Larry did.”
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“He was the miracle worker, Larry Nassar, and he has just abused me on the exam table.”
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“I hate you.”
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“I’ve come to realize that this moment is not my weakness moment. This is my moment of strength.”
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“I have done my part in making sure that Larry Nassar won’t hurt another child.”
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“I hope Larry gets what he deserves.”
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“It didn’t take me long to realize that you are the monster they described.”
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“I’m going to be a better doctor than you could have ever dreamed to be.”
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“I tried to push it out of my mine, but it was too heavy.”
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“You want this all to be over because you think this is all about you.”
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“Now people will know what you did to me and many other girls.”
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“The very fact that this man was ever alone in a room with little girls is reprehensible.
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“You acted like you cared, but really, all you were doing was baiting me into your sexually abusive trap.”
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“I had no idea I was being molested. He was so incredibly kind to me.”
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“This is not my shame anymore. It’s yours.”
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“Your robbery of innocence will bring forth a fury to ensure that someone of your malevolence will never go unnoticed again.”
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“Larry Nassar stole our innocence.”
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“Dr. Nassar is no doctor at all.”
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“He needs to be behind bars so he will never prey upon another child.”
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“You did not slow me down. You motivated me to push forward full force without you.”
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“By standing up here sharing my journey, I feel more courageous than I ever thought possible.”
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“Larry was immediately friendly, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
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“Women can and will stand up against all abusers.”
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“You will never control me again.”
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“I’m not scared of you anymore, Larry.”
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“There are hundreds, if not thousands—I really believe there are thousands—of others who are affected, and will continue to be affected decades after you remain behind bars.”
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“I know the truth. Regardless if he remembers what he did to me or not, I remember. That’s all that matters. You knew what you were doing was wrong. It wasn’t until you got caught that you started to beg for forgiveness.”
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Victim 11: “I need MSU to be truthful, transparent and to take responsibility.”
Victim 136: “For many years I blamed myself and I’ve pushed it down, and I know that’s no longer the case.”
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“Today, we take our futures back, even as his fades into nothingness.”
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“No one cared and no one saw what was happening to me.”
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“It wasn’t a cover up. It was gross negligence,” she said, sharing her thoughts on why the abuse went on for so long.
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“As you deteriorate in prison, I want you to remember that you lost,” Maureen wrote. “As you eke out your days in prison, know that you will be forgotten and left alone.”
“To the brave women who were able to speak, know that you are not alone,” Katherine wrote.
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“No one was protecting us from being taken advantage of.”
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“You’re a coward and a sickening man.”
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“I have so many more wonderful things to come in my life, and this ends the defendant’s cloud over them.”
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“I am angry at those who have been shutting down this case for so many years.”
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“For a while, I didn’t believe I was one of these sexually abused victims.”
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“I am here today to stand in front of my abuser with an army of strong powerful women behind me asking that this man that hurt all of us withers away for the rest of his life.”
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“Come hell or high water, we will take every last one of you down that could have stopped this monster.”
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“I know I’ll never be the same person before I found out about the truth.”
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“Now I know you used your authority and status to hurt me and countless other girls.”
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“Your actions have ultimately created an army of strong, courageous powerful young women who will stand together and fight against you until we have found the justice we have deserved.”
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“What we need is change. We need understanding. We need compassion. Not for ourselves, but for our daughters.”
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“What if someone had taken the very first allegations seriously? Would I have been abused?”
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“I had to return again and again countless times until I was ultimately broken.”
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“You have gotten me down, yes, but I will not stay down. I will raise higher than most, and you will fall Larry into your grave.”
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“It truly sickens me that so many helped enable you for so many years.”
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“You cannot break me, Larry. I am a survivor.”
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“From here on out, you will no longer interfere with my life, Larry.”
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“This is your hell, and I hope you burn in it.”
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“This past year and a half has been without a doubt the most difficult and traumatic period of my life.”
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“What have you done?”
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“I had seen him over a 100 times, and the vast majority of those times, he abused me.”
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“You ended up right were you always liked to be. Number one sports medicine doctor. Number one gymnastics doctor in the country. And now you’re the world’s number one disgusting pedophile that has ever been discovered.”
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“Larry, you manipulated me to think that I was the one who was wrong.”
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“I am going to leave the darkness in this room today.”
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“I am sickened and angered by your abuse of power for your own self-gain.”
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“After today, I will not cry anymore. I am done.”
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“I’m 15 and I’m not afraid of you.”
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“My voice will be a voice for the voiceless.”
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“I no longer know how to address this man. He is not a doctor as he has done more harm than he has good. He is not my friend so I will not call him Larry, and he’s certainly not a man so I cannot call him Mr. Nassar. He’s just a monster.”
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“I will forever have a wall built up around me because of this.”
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“You, on the other hand, will learn a whole new meaning for the word ‘friend’ in prison. You have no family.”
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“Why, Larry? Why did you do this to us?”
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“Well, Larry, now you are truly famous, and you are getting what you deserve.”
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“I used to see the best in everyone. Now I see the worst even if it’s not there.”
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“He took away my choice over my own body.”
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“We came to you for healing and trusted you to do so.”
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“My dancing in college was affected by my injuries, and the trauma you caused me.”
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“A person should not walk around wondering if she was molested or not. But because of you, I do.”
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“He used his position of power, as a doctor, to do inappropriate things to me.”
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“I feel so so betrayed by Mr. Nassar.”
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“My only relief is knowing that my picture is no longer on your wall at your Michigan State office.”
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“It is so very difficult to put the trauma and suffering of this assault into words.”
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“Larry, you were not kind. You were abrasive and careless.”
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“You damn well should cry because you broke my daughter’s heart in a million pieces.”
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“Now I can’t trust anyone anymore.
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“Fighting is the answer, even though it won’t make it right.”
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“At my core, I know most people are not molesters or pigs. However, it is tough not to have my guard up.”
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“Why would a doctor do something to me that was a crime?”
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“What seems the most unfair is I am the one left to pick up the pieces.”
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“USAG, and Larry Nassar, I am tough enough. It is you who are weak.”
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“All he’ll have is bars, and never see the light of day because of us.”
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“What has been done to her has affected our entire family.”
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“This monster hurt my baby. He assaulted her hundreds of times over a 4-year period.”
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“This monster destroyed my daughter’s trust.”
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“You stole my light, Larry Nassar, and I am now talking it back.”
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“You were never a real doctor. You did not heal me. You only hurt me.”
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“I am no longer a victim of sexual abuse. I am a survivor.”
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“This past week has been the hardest of my entire life, but listening to so many other strong women speak out has inspired me to do the same.”
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“Someone who did what you did could never feel bad about it.”
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“We young girl’s were fooled, but the world should not have been. USAG, Michigan State University and society all failed to keep us safe.”
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“I have found the courage and realized I am not a victim. I’m here to take back my power and relinquish yours.”
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“Larry Nassar is a coward.”
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“It has been more than 10 years since I stopped seeing Dr. Nassar and though I am now married and in my 30s with three kids and a wonderful life, I still struggle with the ramifications of his actions.”
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“Larry, my coaches and USA Gymnastics turned the sport I fell in love with as a kid into my personal living hell.”
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“You have not won. I now know that we are strong.”
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“The pain is just beginning for you. You disgust me.”
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“He took away the confidence that I was developing at a young age.”
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“This week has been my time to face you, but today is your time to face me,” she told Nassar.”
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“I now work as a family practice physician assistant. I am shocked by how many of my patients have been victims of sexual abuse. Today, I ask all parents, police, institutions, including MSU, USAG and other authority figures to please listen to children when they report abuse and take action.”
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“Dr. Larry crossed so many boundaries I didn’t believe I had at such a young age. You stole every little innocence I had out of me, out of a little girl who simply didn’t know what was going on.”
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“I will not take my own life. I am going to take it back.”
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“There really are no words to express the amount of pain you have inflicted,” Abigail said.
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“Your whole life has been filled with nothing but fake relationships and temporarily happiness.”
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“I cannot believe i ever trusted you and I will never forgive you. I’m happy you will be spending the rest of your life in prison. Enjoy hell, by the way.”
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“I was a victim of Larry Nassar but I will not let that define me.”
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“This is a revolution, and it is about time we hold the power.”
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“We are survivors. We are here to make sure this will never happen again. We are here to make change, and we are here to be remember.”
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“I hesitated in deciding to come today like so many women have because I thought, ‘With a hundred people, do you really need to hear one more?’ And also I feel kind of old, looking at some of them. They are young enough to be my daughters—And that’s why I’m here because it needs to be in the light.”
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“We are strong, and you are nothing. We are powerful, and you are powerless. We will destroy you like you tried to destroy us.”
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“I have buried this for so long, but now is time for the healing to begin.”
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“Larry Nassar, you put me through Hell, but you will not kill the light inside of me. I will not give you that power.”
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“I look around this room and I am in complete awe. These women, these warriors, give me life .They lit a fire inside me that I never knew existed. They inspire me and fuel me to continue on intros fight against predators and enablers.”
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“Ultimately, Larry, you made a critical mistake. You underestimated the mind, power, and will of your victims.”
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In 2016, Rachael Denhollander spoke to the Indianapolis Star about what Nassar did to her. Her story was the first of many public claims that led to his downfall. She was last to speak at his hearing.
