Earlier today, a fourth former Ohio State wrestler said that Rep. Jim Jordan knew about sexual abuse being done by a team doctor during the 1990s, when Jordan was an assistant coach with the team. Hours later, President Donald Trump—who himself once bragged on tape that he could grab women by the pussy—defended Jordan, saying he believed the Republican from Ohio. Regarding the men who said they were abused, Trump said, “I don’t believe them at all.”
The fourth wrestler to speak out was Shawn Dailey. Dailey told NBC News, in a story published today, that Dr. Richard Strauss groped him “half a dozen times” in the 1990s while Dailey was with the team. Dailey said that he didn’t officially report the abuse out of embarrassment, but added that Jordan must have known because Jordan was in the locker room when people would talk about it. Dailey also corroborated to NBC News that another former Buckeyes wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, had confronted Jordan about the molestation by Strauss.
From the first NBC News report, quoting Yetts:
“I remember I had a thumb injury and went into Strauss’ office and he started pulling down my wrestling shorts,” he said. “I’m like, what the f—- are you doing? And I went out and told Russ and Jim what happened. I was not having it. They went in and talked to Strauss.”
Yetts said he and his teammates talked to Jordan numerous times about Strauss.
“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,” Yetts said.
Strauss died in 2005. He had been the wrestling team doctor from the 1970s until the mid-1990s. In April, Ohio State announced that it was investigating reports of sexual misconduct involving Strauss. Since then, the university has said it received reports of sexual misconduct from “former student athletes from 14 varsity men’s teams and from patients at Student Health Services within the Office of Student Life, another place Strauss worked,” the Columbus Dispatch reported. The investigation also is looking into whether Strauss examined high school students and, if so, whether he molested them.
Jordan, whose name had been floated as a potential speaker of the House, has continued to deny knowing anything. Jordan said he didn’t respond to investigators because the email address they had for him, which matched how emails are set up for other House staffers, didn’t work. Today, Trump called Jordan—who helped found the Freedom Caucus, wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, opposes funding Planned Parenthood because abortion is “wrong” and “immoral,” and once suggested that the deputy attorney general could subpoena phone calls—“one of the most outstanding people I know.”
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