Boy, what a day for FreedomWork to launch this petition effort! As of now, the tweet is still up, but in case they happen to read today’s headline news, here it is for posterity.
Yeah, that would be the Jim Jordan, Freedom Caucus leader, who is under fire now for having not disclosed sexual abuse by the Ohio State University’s wrestling team doctor when he was an assistant coach there. So far, no statement from Jordan himself, though his spokesman insists that “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.” That’s despite the fact that three of the members of the team told NBC News that they talked to Jordan about it at the time, and that it was widespread knowledge in the whole organization—the doctor in question, Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, used to shower with the team, even though he didn’t participate in workouts.
Dunyasha Yetts, one of those wrestlers who says he spoke directly with Jordan after one incident, says “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.” Jordan’s denials are pretty damned hollow. Maybe he’s going to try out the conspiracy theory offered up to him by extremist crazy Brent Bozell, that it’s “dirty tricks. Why did it take 20 years for someone to make this accusation? Could it be because Rep. Jordan is running for GOP House leadership?” Because, sure, House Speaker Paul Ryan and leadership really want another Republican sexual abuse scandal to deal with.
It took 20 years for the story to come out because these men decided it was time, that the “recent conviction of former Olympics gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar prompted ... Ohio State athletes to come forward about Strauss.” Ohio State confirmed that “investigators have received ‘confidential reports of sexual misconduct committed by Strauss’ from former athletes in 14 sports and from former patients in Student Health Services.”
So, yeah, maybe FreedomWorks should rethink this campaign.
