COMPLICIT ENABLERS
Accused College Student Sexual Molestation Enabler Jim Jordan Posts Preposterous Tweet, Gets Blasted
‘It’s Called…Reporting’
Rep. Jim Jordan is seeing his career go down the drain after calling up to nine former wrestlers liars. And now he’s fighting back – but doing a very poor job of it.
The former wrestlers insist Jordan, when he was an assistant coach for the Ohio State wrestling team, knew they had been sexually molested by the team doctor.
At least seven of the former wrestlers say they were personally sexually molested and abused. Two others say it was common knowledge and there is no way Jordan didn’t know. The most recent of them to step forward says Jordan knew because he personally told him.
“I remember coming up and saying, ‘Strauss held my balls longer than normal.’ He just snickered,” the ninth former wrestler told CNN.
How bad was it?
“A half-dozen ex-wrestlers told POLITICO they were regularly harassed in their training facility by sexually aggressive men who attended the university or worked there,” Politico reports, echoing other similar reporting. “It was a cesspool of deviancy,” one former wrestling coach who worked with Jordan said.
“The voyeurs would masturbate while watching the wrestlers shower or sit in the sauna, or engage in sexual acts in the areas where the athletes trained, the former wrestlers said,” Politico notes.
Defending having not taken any action to stop the attacks or the culture of deviancy, Rep. Jordan insists he did not know, although acknowledges there was locker room talk.
But now Jordan is taking a page out of Trump’s book – possibly not a wise move given the President’s history of bragging about sexually assaulting women.
Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who seems to have been counting on replacing Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House next year, has decided his denials are not working (they’re not), so he’s attacking the messenger: the media.
Now @CNN is contacting all 100+ of our former staff and interns asking for dirt on me. Getting desperate! How can you ever trust such #fakenews?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 11, 2018
Only, this time, the media is finally fighting back.
Many, many reporters are outright mocking Jordan, for, as one news producer put it, “the process of news reporting.”
Here’s a sample:
This is literally how reporting works. If it were fake news, they’d just write some shit without calling anyone. https://t.co/30DcCX1obO
— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) July 11, 2018
literally the act of journalism is now called fake news by people in power here. not even the results that come from said journalism. just the very process of doing it. https://t.co/8o84Ur0YA7
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) July 11, 2018
Jim Jordan attacks the process of news reporting. https://t.co/hpPxXcITWp
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 11, 2018
1) It’s called reporting.
2) Doesn’t sound confident those staff and interns will vouch for him. https://t.co/lXo8RKLv2R
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) July 11, 2018
Calling around and asking people questions is called “reporting.” How can you ever trust anything else? https://t.co/N6vFqyNp3B
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) July 11, 2018
Because when I’m looking to print fake news, my first step is to…interview 100+ people? https://t.co/gl57zUNt7w
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) July 11, 2018
It’s called…reporting. https://t.co/FiYy5ag7nx
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) July 11, 2018
Asking for information (not “dirt”) from people who have reason to know the truth is called journalism. This is how this works. https://t.co/wTxIyQZ1yw
— Jenna McLaughlin (@JennaMC_Laugh) July 11, 2018
That’s literally the free press doing their job. The fact that you are scared speaks volumes. https://t.co/CMO3jNdJTC
— William LeGate (@williamlegate) July 11, 2018
Calling exhaustive reporting by @CNN #fakenews is fucking pathetic and shows how worried Jordan is about his story unraveling. https://t.co/UG6ixSzOXf
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) July 11, 2018
tfw you have no clue how journalism works https://t.co/OLzXn02rAa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2018
Contacting people is how reporters verify news is real. https://t.co/oOFt4wlXfW
— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 11, 2018
interesting take on investigations from a prominent member of the House Oversight Committee https://t.co/nZSMhZVEjb
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) July 11, 2018
area politician just found out how reporting works https://t.co/y3Ljwy8vKB
— Alana Horowitz Satlin (@achorowitz) July 11, 2018
Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall, who has a solid track record of accurately looking ahead, offers this insight:
I think we both know what they’re looking at, Jim. Was there a problem with harassment in your congressional office? Did you know about it? Take any action? https://t.co/2Gc6ENzmh3
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 11, 2018
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