House Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Jim Jordan finds himself fighting back against claims he ignored a sexual abuse scandal just days after publicly excoriating Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Before his election to Congress, Jordan was an assistant coach of the Ohio State University’s wrestling team. Around a half-dozen former athletes now say they were sexually abused by the team doctor, that the abuse was common knowledge at the time, and Jordan did nothing about it.
The 25-year-old allegations became public shortly after Jordan publicly sparred with Rosenstein over the politicized and biased Justice Department investigations of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
POLITICO reports:
A half-dozen ex-wrestlers told POLITICO they were regularly harassed in their training facility by sexually aggressive men who attended the university or worked there. The voyeurs would masturbate while watching the wrestlers shower or sit in the sauna, or engage in sexual acts in the areas where the athletes trained, the former wrestlers said.
Larkins Hall, the building that housed athletic teams, became such a well-known target that people who frequented it at the time have reminisced in anonymous postings online how easy it was to ogle naked members of the wrestling team.
The situation was so egregious that former wrestling head coach Russ Hellickson would at times have to physically drag the gawkers out of the building, several sources familiar with his actions at the time said.
For his part, Jordan categorically denies the charges, and, in his defense, the media has lowered the bar to reporting on such stories to a dangerous low. The alleged abuser, Dr. Richard Strauss – not Jordan – died 13 years ago and never faced criminal charges, a lawsuit, or even public scrutiny.
The precedent the media is setting, where supposed accusers can run anyone’s name through the proverbial mud without any evidence or a clear path to recourse for the accused is a recipe for massive injustices.
AAN Staff
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