Tipsheet

Jim Jordan Denies Reports He Hid Sexual Abuse at Ohio State

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  July 04, 2018 3:00 PM

On Tuesday, unfortunate reports about Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) suggested that he kept quiet about sexual abuse while serving as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University. Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, was accused of sexually assaulting wrestling team members while he was the team doctor from the 1970s to the 1990s. Jordan, who was the assistant coach from 1986 to 1994, may have covered up the incidents, according to the reports. He, however, is denying the accusation.

“Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State," Jordan's spokesman Ian Fury told NBC News.

CNN confronted Jordan himself on this Fourth of July. The congressman said he does remember Dr. Strauss, but echoed his spokesman by insisting he knew nothing of the alleged abuse.

"I never knew of any abuse from Dr. Strauss, plain and simple."

Wrestlers who were on the team at the time, however, are calling Jordan a liar.

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“It would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware,”  they told NBC.

Dunyasha Yetts, who wrestled at OSU from 1993 to 1994, explained why.

“For God’s sake, Strauss’s locker was right next to Jordan’s and Jordan even said he’d kill him if he tried anything with him,” Yetts said.

Mike DiSabato, who says he was one of Strauss's victims, insisted on CNN Wednesday that he told Jordan about the abuse while he was at OSU.

Jordan's colleagues, meanwhile, are defending his character. House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows (R-NC), for instance, told Fox News that Jordan would be the first person to stand up for justice.