Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and members of the House Freedom Caucus are standing by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, days after allegations surfaced that he failed to stop a team doctor at Ohio State University from sexually abusing wrestlers.
Meadows told the Washington Examiner Thursday that allegations against Jordan during his time as an assistant wrestling coach at the school from 1986-1994 are “not true” and that he expects the Ohio Republican to be completely exonerated as part of the university’s ongoing investigation.
“The accusations that have been made by these couple of people who I don’t know are … not consistent with the Jim Jordan I’ve come to know and admire and certainly not consistent what Jim espouses every day when nobody’s looking,” Meadows said in a phone interview. “He’s a seeker of truth and justice and it’s just not consistent with anything.”
“I know it’s not true,” Meadows said. “I think in time it will all come out that not only did Jim not know anything about it, but if he had, he would have acted upon it.”
“We not only stand by him, but believe him to be a man of character and honor, and Congress would be well served to have more Jim Jordans serving on Capitol Hill,” Meadows added.
Meadows said he has talked to a number of Freedom Caucus members and they “unanimously” support him.
The allegations, which emerged Tuesday, are that Jordan knew of sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss, the team’s doctor from the mid-1970s until the late 1990s. Strauss died in 2005. The accusations came forth after the conviction of Larry Nasser, the former doctor for the U.S. Gymnastics team.
Jordan has vociferously denied the allegations and says that if he had known about wrongdoing by Strauss, he would have done something about it.
Meadows also said that he does not expect the report to derail Jordan’s possible bid for the speakership after the election if Republicans keep hold of the House.
“If there was even an inkling of guilt on Jim’s part, he would step aside, but I haven’t heard anybody that has encouraged him to run suggesting that he not run,” Meadows said. “I don’t think it will have any impact there.”
[Opinion: Jim Jordan denies turning a blind eye to sexual abuse: ‘I never heard of abuse, plain and simple’]
