Jim Jordan Possibly Facing Ethics Investigation For Denying He Knew About Sexual Abuse Of Ohio State Wrestlers
Ohio Republican Jim Jordan continues to deny that he ever knew anything about sexual abuse allegations against the team physician when he was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State, and his colleague Paul Ryan is attempting to deflect calls for an ethics investigation, CNN is reporting.
Calling his colleague a “man of integrity,” House Speaker Paul Ryan denied the need for an ethics investigation into the member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.
“Jim Jordan is a friend of mine. We haven’t always agreed with each other over the years. But I always have known Jim Jordan to be a man of honesty, and a man of integrity.”
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Dr. Richard Strauss was the team doctor for the wrestling team at Ohio State University from the 1970’s until the 1990’s. During that time, Jordan went from being a star wrestler in the early 1980’s to being an assistant coach between 1986 and 1984. Strauss died in 2005, while Jordan went on to get his law degree and eventually into politics.
In April of this year, the university opened up an investigation into allegations that Strauss sexually abused young men during his tenure as the team doctor. One such wrestler was Dunyasha Yetts. He claims that he went to Jordan after Strauss attempted to pull his (Yetts’) pants down when he went to see Strauss for a thumb injury. Jordan allegedly did not report the abuse to authorities, and instead went to Strauss’ office to “talk to” him.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) lashed out at CNN on Wednesday for reporting on the scandal surrounding his time as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University https://t.co/ooO9dcQ705
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 11, 2018
Another wrestler, Mike DiSabato, said that this year, he went to Jordan with his plans to go public with his allegations against Struass. DiSabato claims that Jordan asked him to keep him (Jordan) out of it.
To date, nine former wrestlers have claimed that Jordan knew about sexual abuse during his tenure as assistant coach, and did nothing about it.
Jordan, who has promised to cooperate with the investigation into Strauss, continues to vehemently deny such claims.
“I’m telling the truth. Look, I stood up to the speaker of the house in my home state. I stood up to the IRS. To think I would not stand up for my athletes is ridiculous. Thank you.”
Meanwhile, talk of an ethics investigation has come up in Washington. Ryan, however, points out that the House Ethics Committee typically investigates things that happen during a Congressman’s time in office, not allegations of wrongdoing that took place decades before.
