OHIO: Rep. Jim Jordan Named In Class Action Sexual Abuse Lawuit Filed By Former University Wrestler

Rolling Stone reports:

On Tuesday, Jordan’s public-relations crisis became a legal nightmare. Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ohio on behalf of an as-yet-unnamed former OSU wrestler. The law firm Sauder Schelkopf is seeking to represent all the students and athletes “treated” by Strauss in his two decades at the school, from the late ‘70s to the late ‘90s – a number they estimate will amount to “at least 1,500.”

Jordan, the jut-jawed anti-gay crusader who’s the fourth-ranking Republican leader in the House, is singled out in the suit: He’s one of only three former school officials named, including Strauss, though the action is aimed at all the coaches, administrators and others in positions of responsibility at OSU who, it claims, stood by while students and student-athletes were repeatedly “sexually abused, harassed, and molested,” and “forced” to seek treatment from a well-known predator even after they complained.

Politico reports:



Rep. Jim Jordan has been interviewed as part of an ongoing internal investigation into a sex abuse scandal at Ohio State University, the Ohio Republican said on Wednesday. Jordan — who has gained a national following as the leader of the hardline House Freedom Caucus — told an Ohio radio program that he spoke with lawyers conducting the inquiry. That session took place on Monday.

“The interview took place Monday morning in Ohio,” said Ian Fury, Jordan’s spokesman, in a statement. “Congressman Jordan told the investigators the same thing he’s told you folks in the media since day one: he never saw any abuse, never heard of any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him.”

Fury declined to provide details about the interview, including whether Jordan was accompanied by an attorney during the session. Through his campaign committee, Jordan has retained a PR firm to help deal with the political fallout from the OSU scandal.