Facing new accusations, Jim Jordan shifts his strategy

COLUMBUS (OH)
MSNBC

July 9, 2018

By Steve Benen

At first, it was three people who alleged that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), during his tenure as a coach at Ohio State, knew about a team physician’s sexual misconduct toward student athletes, but he turned a blind eye at the time. The were soon joined by a fourth witness. And then a fifth. And a sixth.

The Washington Post updated the tally in a report over the weekend.

A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler said Saturday that he believes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) knew about inappropriate behavior that allegedly took place in the school’s athletic department three decades ago, as two more former team members came to Jordan’s defense.

David Range, who wrestled for Ohio State in the late 1980s, said Jordan had to have known about alleged sexual misconduct by Richard Strauss, an athletic doctor whose behavior is under investigation by the school, because it happened regularly to team members and people talked about it. Jordan has denied he knew, saw or heard about any inappropriate behavior while he was an assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995.

Range told the Washington Post, “Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening – yes, most definitely.”

For his part, the Republican congressman went on Fox News on Friday afternoon, and seemed to take a slightly different posture than he had earlier in the week, saying, “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse.”

Asked, however, if he’d heard locker-room banter on the subject, Jordan replied, “No. No. No type of abuse. We did not hear that.”

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