An Ignoble Experiment: 'Inexcusable': FBI blunders allowed Larry Nassar to abuse more victims

By Liza Hearon

TOP STORIES

Thursday, July 15

FBI MADE 'FUNDAMENTAL ERRORS' IN LARRY NASSAR CASE A long-awaited Department of Justice report said the FBI mishandled the investigation of then-team USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar in 2015 for child sexual abuse. The FBI didn't take any significant action until a year after Nassar was reported, allowing him to abuse dozens more victims. He is serving life in prison. [HuffPost]

DEMS THROW THE KITCHEN SINK INTO BUDGET PROPOSAL Democrats are readying a massive $3.5 trillion infrastructure package stuffed full of money for housing, nutrition, climate, health care, immigration, child care, and more. But passing a bill of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression will require holding a fractious party together and could blow up at any moment, write Igor Bobic and Tara Golshan. [HuffPost]

BRITNEY SPEARS TO CHOOSE OWN ATTORNEY Britney Spears has been permitted to choose her own attorney in her battle to end her conservatorship, an arrangement that her father has played a large part in since 2008. "This conservatorship has allowed my dad to ruin my life," Spears told a judge in a hearing Wednesday. [HuffPost]

CAPITOL RIOTER WHO RAPPELLED INTO SENATE GETS PLEA DEAL Federal prosecutors reached a plea deal with Josiah Colt, who rappelled into the Senate chamber during the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. Colt bragged on social media about breaching the Capitol and claimed he sat in Nancy Pelosi's reserved seat, which is actually located in the House chamber. [HuffPost]

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TEXAS DEMS MEET WITH U.S. SENATORS Texas Democrats who made the decision this week to flee the state for Washington in a desperate effort to hold off a voter suppression bill met with several U.S. senators to continue the fight for federal voting rights legislation. "The rights of voting Texans live on borrowed time under Texas Republicans," state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D) said. [HuffPost]

FULL-TIME, MINIMUM-WAGE WORKERS CAN'T AFFORD RENT IN U.S. At local minimum-wage rates, a worker would have to put in 79 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental, according to a new report. "One full-time job should be enough," the report says, urging the federal government to raise the minimum wage. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

UNIONS GAVE MONEY TO GOP LAWMAKERS WHO VOTED TO OVERTURN ELECTION While labor unions tend to give more money to Democrats, some spread their political contributions around to both political parties -- including to members of Congress who didn't want to certify Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. Find out about the contributions here. [HuffPost]

THE FAMILY THAT RIOTS TOGETHER GETS ARRESTED TOGETHER Five members of one Texas family were arrested for their alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. "Washington D.C. here we come… #StopTheSteal #TrumpIsMyPresident," Kristi Munn captioned a Facebook photo that showed her and five other members of her family in the lead-up to the insurrection. [HuffPost]

NEW BOOK: GENERAL FEARED TRUMP WOULD USE MILITARY TO STAY IN POWER Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was deeply worried that then-President Donald Trump would refuse to leave the White House and warned colleagues he feared Trump would try to use the military to stay in office, according to excerpts from a new book. Milley, the nation's top military officer, also compared Trump's actions to the rise of Adolf Hitler. [HuffPost]

U.S. PARTNERS JAILED AND TORTURED HIM FOR EXPOSING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS After his reports on Yemen, site of the world's worst humanitarian crisis, journalist Adel Al-Hasani spent six months detained by a U.S.-linked military. Find out more about his harrowing story in his first interview since his release in March. [HuffPost]

OLIVIA RODRIGO: VACCINES ARE GOOD 4 U Singer Olivia Rodrigo went to the White House to implore people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the delta variant continues to spread around the world. The 18-year-old star she was "beyond honored" to be able to help spread the message of getting vaccinated. [HuffPost]