Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) alleged role in the Ohio State University sexual abuse scandal “has now attracted the attention of the House Committee on Education and Labor, which has begun looking into it,” NBC News reports.
“Jordan does not appear to be named in the redacted report. But he has acknowledged in interviews that he cooperated with the investigators.”
“Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, is seeking to resolve a tense dispute between Democrats and the White House as part of the panel’s review of the Trump administration’s security clearance process,” CNN reports.
“In a letter obtained by CNN and dated Friday, Jordan is asking White House counsel Pat Cipollone to allow former official Carl Kline to sit down for a voluntary transcribed interview to avoid a growing constitutional clash between the two branches of government.”
“Cummings is now threatening to hold Kline in contempt, which Jordan says in his letter could happen as soon as Tuesday.
“An intense behind-the-scenes power struggle over who will become Donald Trump’s top congressional defender is coming to a head as two Freedom Caucus leaders and their allies pressure senior Republicans to give them two top committee posts,” Politico reports.
“Rep. Jim Jordan has formally launched a bid to become the top Republican lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee, according to two leadership sources, while Rep. Mark Meadows is going for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.”
“On the eve of Kevin McCarthy’s long-awaited defeat of his nemesis, Rep. Jim Jordan, President Trump is jumping into the fray to play peacemaker,” Politico reports.
“Trump has privately urged the House majority leader to strike a dealwith the conservative Freedom Caucus founder, who is challenging McCarthy for the minority leader post next Congress, multiple lawmakers and aides said. It remains unclear what exactly the deal would entail.”
“The discussions between the president and McCarthy about Jordan, which took place last week, set off a round of speculation among lawmakers inside the Capitol that Trump may try to push Jordan to become the top Republican lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee, a panel expected to launch an array of Democratic investigations against the president — and possibly even an impeachment probe.”
Playbook: “The Freedom Caucus is all but dead at this point, and McCarthy is going to easily put away Jordan in this leadership race. But they are now viewing how McCarthy treats Jordan as a litmus test.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced his bid for House minority leader, challenging Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hours after Democrats regained control of the lower chamber, Axios reports.
Said Jordan: “I plan to run for minority leader.”
“A collection of powerful conservative groups is mounting an aggressive campaign to install Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan as House speaker or minority leader in the next Congress,” Politico reports.
“The bid to empower a rabble-rouser despised by much of the House Republican Conference will almost surely fall short. But success for the groups doesn’t necessarily require Jordan to end up in the top leadership spot.”
“Their effort could deny California Rep. Kevin McCarthy the 218 votes needed to secure the speakership if Republicans retain the House majority — an outcome conservatives would cheer just as much.”
President Trump praised Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) college wrestling career at Ohio’s state Republican Party dinner even as the conservative lawmaker is under fire for charges that he ignored sexual abuse of his former wrestlers, The Hill reports.
Said Jordan: “You know, people don’t know this about Jim, he was one of the best wrestlers ever in college wrestling. And when you see the way he fights, every time he fights I say to my wife, ‘look at that guy, that is tough.’ He lost one match in three years of college.”
“Retired Ohio State wrestling coach Russ Hellickson reached out to two ex-team members and asked them to support their former assistant coach, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) a day after they accused the powerful congressman of turning a blind eye to alleged sexual abuse by the team doctor,” according to the wrestlers and text messages they shared with NBC News.
“The former wrestlers said their ex-coach made it clear to them he was under pressure from Jordan to get statements of support from members of the team.”
House Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan (R-OH) will formally announce his campaign for speaker of the House today, the Daily Caller reports.
Another former Ohio State University wrestler told CNN that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was aware of sexual abuse allegations against the wrestling team doctor when he was a wrestling coach at the school.
The former wrestler said he directly told Jordan about the team doctor’s behavior and that Jordan did nothing: “I remember coming up and saying, ‘Strauss held my balls longer than normal.’ He just snickered.”
A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler said Saturday that he believes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) knew about inappropriate behavior that allegedly took place in the school’s athletic department three decades ago, the Washington Post reports.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) “is facing the kind of slowly percolating scandal that would bring down other politicians in other times, as new accusers step forward by the day to say the wrestling coach turned politician was aware of sexual misconduct at Ohio State University but did nothing to stop it,” the New York Times reports.
“But like the man Mr. Jordan doggedly supports, President Trump, the Ohio Republican has the kind of stalwart supporters who do not lose faith easily, and they are already defending the conservative powerhouse, saying he is the victim of the same ‘deep state’ conspirators — liberal bureaucrats embedded in the government — who are trying to bring down the President.”
“Five former wrestlers, including former UFC world champion Mark Coleman, said this week that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was aware of, but didn’t respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by an Ohio State University team doctor when the lawmaker was an assistant wrestling coach there in the 1990s,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Coleman: “There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State… I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew as far as I’m concerned.”
“I don’t believe them at all. I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent.”
— President Trump, quoted by CNN, on the allegations that he didn’t report sexual abuse while he was a coach for the Ohio State University wrestling team.
A fourth former Ohio State University wrestler came forward to contradict Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) claim that he had no idea the wrestling team doctor was molesting athletes, NBC News reports.
“The wrestler, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss’ abuse of many other team members came up.”
Said Dailey: “I participated with Jimmy and the other wrestlers in locker-room talk about Strauss. We all did. It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down.”
Mike DiSabato told CNN that not only was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) aware of the alleged sexual abuse on the Ohio State wrestling team, but that he personally witnessed inappropriate behavior in the team shower.
DiSabato described an environment where student-athletes shared a shower with staff and faculty members who “were involved in lewd acts that included public masturbation” and “excessive soaping of their groin area.”
Said DiSabato: “I considered Jim Jordan a friend. But at the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) “emphatically denied allegations that he intentionally overlooked widespread sexual abuse of wrestlers whom he coached decades ago, telling Politico in a Tuesday night interview that he would have taken action had he known of the alleged behavior.”
Said Jordan: “It’s not true. I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it. And look, if there are people who are abused, then that’s terrible and we want justice to happen.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) “is being accused by former wrestlers he coached more than two decades ago at Ohio State University of failing to stop the team doctor from molesting them and other students,” NBC News reports.
“Jordan, who was assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994, has repeatedly said he knew nothing of the abuse until former students began speaking out this spring. His denials, however, have been met with skepticism and anger from some former members of the wrestling team.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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