U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, is being accused by the former college wrestlers he coached at Ohio State of repeatedly ignoring their reports of sexual abuse by the team’s doctor. And they say he’s now lying about it.
“At the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on,” one former Ohio State wrestler, Mike DiSabato, told NBC News. DiSabato says he “considered Jim Jordan a friend,” and had told him earlier this year of his intentions to go public.
Rep. Jordan told DiSabato to “please leave me out of it,” DiSabato told NBC News. “He asked me not to get him involved.”
One former wrestler said he told Jordan, who served as assistant coach, directly of the abuse, which was met with deaf ears.
Another former wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, said: “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 says, “it’s sad for me to hear that he’s denying knowing about Strauss,” and added, “I don’t know why he would, unless it’s a cover-up. Either you’re in on it, or you’re a liar.”
Jordan coached the Ohio State wrestling team from 1986 to 1994. The doctor who stands accused of sexually abusing the wrestlers, Dr. Richard Strauss, died in 2005.
Rep. Jordan is a high-profile Congressman said to be a strong candidate to become the next Speaker of the House. One former Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, served time in jail on charges related to his attempts to pay hush money to cover up his sexual molestation of boys he coached at a high school.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license