"Either you're in on it or you're a liar"
by digby
In politics Jim Jordan is a single-minded creep devoted to winning by any means necessary no matter how destructive. And he seems to be very, very wiling to engage in a cover-up to achieve his goals.
So I don't find this at all hard to believe:
Former Ohio State wrestlers are accusing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of turning a blind eye to rampant sexual abuse by the team doctor while he was coach twenty years ago, according to a Tuesday NBC News report.
Officials at Ohio State reportedly announced that they were investigating the conduct of Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2015 but served as team doctor from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Per NBC, Jordan worked as assistant coach from 1986 to 1994.
The congressman has vehemently denied any awareness of the systematic abuse. “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,” his spokesperson told NBC.
Jordan’s former players reacted strongly to Jordan’s denial.
“It’s sad for me to hear that he’s denying knowing about Strauss,” former wrestler Dunyasha Yetts said. “I don’t know why he would, unless it’s a cover-up. Either you’re in on it, or you’re a liar.”
John Amato has more:
One of Trump's favorite henchmen in the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan is now being accused by former wrestlers who he coached at Ohio State for failing to stop a team doctor from sexually abusing them in the 90's.
If you can't protect your own players from a disgusting team doctor, WTF are you good for?
NBC News breaks this story.
Three former wrestlers told NBC News that it was common knowledge that Strauss showered regularly with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments, and said it would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware; one wrestler said he told Jordan directly about the abuse.
Rep. Jordan has denied knowing anything about this, but one of his former wrestlers, Mike DiSabato, whose allegations kicked off the investigations called Jordan a "liar."
“I considered Jim Jordan a friend,” DiSabato said. “But at the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”
Not only is he being called a liar, but DiSabato informed him that he was going public this year and Jordan asked him to keep his name out of it.
A wrestler named Dunyasha Yetts, who has a criminal past told NBC News that he and others informed Rep. Jordan about the abusing doctor.
Another, who asked to not be named was perplexed that Jordan would deny knowing anytime now.
“I love Jimmy to death,” the ex-wrestler said. “It was a head-scratcher to me why he would say he didn’t know anything. Doc used to take showers with the team even though he didn’t do any workouts, and everybody used to snicker about how you go into his office for a sore shoulder and he tells you to take your pants down.”
It's not shocking for Jordan [allegedly] to now try and cover up what he knew then and why he did nothing to stop the sexual assault of young men under his care.
My question is why did he stay silent when his players were screaming about a pervert in his own hen house?
He wouldn't be the first conservative Republican House leader wrestling coach in the middle of a sex abuse scandal on their team, would he? What is up with that?
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