DETROIT (AP) — Thousands of documents turned over by Michigan State University reveal nothing new about what the school might have known about years of sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the campus doctor who assaulted female athletes, the state attorney general said Wednesday.
“It was surprising to me that we did not find anything that was incriminating,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference.
“It seems sort of improbable to us, right?” she said. “This is a major university, obviously extensive number of employees that work there. I guess the expectation is that we would find a little bit more than we did.”
Nassar, who also worked for USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians, is serving decades in prison for sexual assault committed under the guise of treatment as well as other crimes. Michigan State in 2018 agreed to a $500 million settlement with hundreds of people, mostly women, who said he abused them with his hands.
For years, Nessel and her predecessor clashed with Michigan State's lawyers and its elected governing board over the release of records. While more than 100,000 documents were initially turned over to investigators, another batch of 6,000 was withheld under attorney-client privilege until this year.
Since the Nassar scandal broke in 2016, Michigan State has repeatedly said that no one at the school covered up his actions. Former gymnastics coach Kathie Klages was found guilty of lying to investigators about allegations told to her back in the 1990s, but the state appeals court threw out the conviction.
Former Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon, too, was charged with misleading investigators during a 2018 interview, but that case was dismissed before a trial.
After seeing the records, Nessel believes the university was wrong to claim attorney-client privilege over all of the documents, though a judge in 2019 had agreed with the school's position.
The attorney general accused Michigan State of giving victims a “sense of false hope” that the records would be revealing after finally giving them up. Nessel plans to make them publicly available.
“Simply put, there remains no fulfilling answer to the question of how this abuse was able to be perpetuated on so many, for so long, without MSU, or anyone else, putting a stop to it,” Nessel said.
Michigan State spokesperson Emily Gerkin Guerrant said the university has taken significant steps to improve campus safety and culture since 2016.
Ripples from the Nassar saga have spread widely. In April, the U.S. Justice Department announced a $138 million settlement with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of mishandling allegations against the doctor in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed Nassar to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement for its alleged negligence.
A Justice Department internal watchdog recently said the FBI has failed to report some child sexual abuse allegations to local police or social service agencies even after its poor handling of claims about Nassar led to changes.
Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez
FILE - Disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar appears in court for a plea hearing, Nov. 22, 2017, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks during a news conference Sept. 19, 2022, outside of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office in Flint, Mich. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)
Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, government and Hezbollah officials said. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
Here's the latest:
BEIRUT — At least eight people were killed Tuesday after hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, government and Hezbollah officials said.
Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded. Hezbollah said at least two of its members were among the dead.
Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.
BEIRUT — Hezbollah said in a statement that at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) pagers used by people working for the group’s institutions began exploding “mysteriously,” killing a young girl and two Hezbollah members and wounding several people.
The statement said Hezbollah is carrying out “a security and scientific” investigation into the simultaneous explosions.
Hezbollah called on people not to listen to rumors that are part of “psychological warfare” as Israel threatens to change the facts on the ground along its northern border.
“The resistance, at all its levels, is on high alert to defend Lebanon and its steadfast people,” the statement said.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s internal security agency says it foiled an attempt by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group to kill a former senior Israeli security official.
The Shin Bet said in a statement on Tuesday that it had found an explosive device fitted with a camera and a mechanism that would allow it to be activated by Hezbollah from Lebanon. It said the attack was to be carried out in the coming days.
The Shin Bet did not provide evidence linking the device to Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the Lebanese border since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
It did not say where the device was found or identify the target of the attack, but said the official had been notified. It said the device was similar to one found in a park in Tel Aviv in September 2023 that it said was intended to target a senior Israeli official.
That device went off without causing any injuries. The Shin Bet said Hezbollah was behind both planned attacks.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
In recent days Israeli officials have warned of a wider military operation to halt Hezbollah rocket attacks and allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to their homes in the north.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say Israel has struck a number of homes in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least four people, including a child. The Civil Defense first responders say more people are trapped under the rubble and the toll is likely to rise after the strikes early Tuesday.
Another strike late Monday in Gaza City killed a man, his wife and child, according to the Civil Defense.
Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in densely populated areas.
The Civil Defense said that their rescue crews came under Israeli fire as they arrived in the area, injuring one.
The Israeli military said it was targeting militants preparing to fire at troops and was reviewing “reports regarding harm to uninvolved civilians.” A military official speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said that paramedics from agencies such as the U.N. sometimes have to coordinate with the military before rushing in to evacuate the wounded.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attacks and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire in November.
JERUSALEM — Returning residents evacuated from Israel’s north due to cross-border fighting with Hezbollah is now an official war goal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday.
Israeli officials have long said they aim to return the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes, so it was not immediately clear how the announcement would impact the conduct of the war. But it was a strong indication Israel is prepared to take tougher military action to realize that goal.
Visiting White House envoy Amos Hochstein met with Netanyahu and other top officials Monday to try to soothe tensions and avoid the opening of a new front between Israel and Lebanon.
Netanyahu told the envoy that Israel will do “whatever is necessary” to bring home the residents.
In a brief statement after an overnight Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu’s office said Israel will continue to work toward the goal — the latest sign that patience is running out.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the focal point of military action is moving from Gaza to Israel’s northern front. In talks with Hochstein on Monday, both he and Netanyahu warned that time was running out for a diplomatic solution and heavier military activity could be inevitable.
UNITED NATIONS — The United States ambassador to the United Nations accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing American frustration with its close ally as the war approaches its first anniversary.
Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants, who often hide with civilians and use them as human shields, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers were preventable.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.
Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the U.S. will keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory and protect humanitarian workers and facilities. She also reiterated outrage at the death of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed Sept. 6 during a protest in the West Bank. Israeli Defense Forces said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government began a criminal investigation.
FILE - Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, FIle)
Mehmet, left. the father of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26 year-old Turkish-American activist killed by the Israeli military, attends prayers during his daughter's funeral outside the central mosque of Didim, Turkey, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024,(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
A Palestinian woman rides her donkey near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinians in Lebanon wave their national flags during a protest in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
