Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), part of the Freedom Caucus leadership who has risen to a position of influence with leadership, is being accused of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse of college wrestlers by the team doctor when he was a coach at Ohio State two decades ago.
This spring, the university began an investigation into accusations against Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005. The wrestlers and other team staff say that Strauss abused team members over two decades, overlapping Jordan's tenure there as assistant wrestling coach from the mid-’80s until 1994. Jordan "has repeatedly said he knew nothing of the abuse until former students began speaking out this spring." People who were there at the time call bullshit on that, including wrestlers who say they told Jordan directly, at the time, about the abuse which included showering with them and inappropriately touching them in examinations.
Former head coach Russ Hellickson, Jordan's mentor, said in a recent video—made by Mike DiSabato, a former wrestler—that Hellickson had told Strauss that he was being too "hands on" with students.
DiSabato, whose allegations against Strauss prompted Ohio State to open its investigation, called Jordan a "liar." [...]
DiSabato said he reached out to Jordan this year, before going to the university, to tell Jordan that he planned to go public with his allegations. Jordan told him to "please leave me out of it," DiSabato said. "He asked me not to get him involved."
Jordan's protestations of ignorance would be completely believable if they were about politics or policy—he's a Freedom Caucus guy, after all. But in this case, it sure looks like he's flat-out lying.