Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, denied any knowledge of sexual abuse that occurred against members of the Ohio State University wrestling team and said the five men accusing him of knowing and not doing anything about it are lying for reasons he does not know.
“It’s false. I mean, I never saw, never heard of, never was told about any type of abuse,” Jordan told Fox News host Bret Baier Friday evening. “Our coaching staff, we would have dealt with it. These were our student athletes. A good coach puts the interests of his student athletes first. We would have dealt with it if we would have known about anything that happened if, in fact, there are victims, they deserve justice.”
One accuser, former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato, said Jordan was like an older brother to men on the team and would have known about the “deviant sexual atmosphere” in which the abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss was discussed as “nervous locker room banter.”
“Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse or reported abuse to us,” responded Jordan. “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than people coming up and talking about abuse.”
The House Freedom Caucus founder said he has been around sports his “entire life” and claimed the timing of this coming to the surface was “suspect.” The claim that Jordan knew of abuse and did not intervene comes a week after he made national headlines for his grilling of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in a House committee hearing.
Jordan said he has received a “whole list of statements from folks who sent in statements saying, ‘This is ridiculous, we were there, we know you,'” but did not share if he will release those documents.
“What bothers me the most is the guys that are saying these things I know they know the truth. I know they do,” added Jordan. “We trained with these guys every day, sometimes twice a day. And for — I know what — I know they know what they’re saying is not accurate.”
