Another witness says Rep. Jim Jordan ignored reports of sexual abuse at Ohio State

A second person has come forward to accuse Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of ignoring sexual assault allegations against a sports doctor at Ohio State University while Jordan was employed as a coach there.

John Doe 42, a professional wrestling referee, was part of a lawsuit from 43 men filed on Thursday against Ohio State University claiming that the school did nothing to stop Richard Strauss, a school doctor, from sexually abusing male athletes, NBC News reported.

Doe 42 alleges in the lawsuit that he witnessed Strauss masturbating in front of him in a shower at Ohio State and reported the incident to Jordan, then an assistant wrestling coach on the team, but that Jordan did nothing.

“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Jordan told Doe 42, but then did nothing to stop Strauss’ actions, according to NBC News.

Another former Ohio State wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, was the first person to come forward to say he told Jordan about Strauss’ actions and that Jordan did nothing, according to NBC News.

“It’s good that people are starting to come forward and say the truth, which is that Jordan and the other coaches knew what was going on and they blew it off,” Yetts said in an interview with NBC News.

Strauss sexually abused 177 male athletes at Ohio State, something that the university knew about but did not take any actions to stop, an independent investigation found.

Jordan, who was elected to Congress in 2006, is one of the school employees who reportedly knew about Strauss’ actions, but didn’t do anything about it.

“It was common knowledge what Strauss was doing so the attitude was it is what it is,” Doe 42 told NBC News. “I wish Jim … would stand up and do the right thing and admit they knew what Strauss was doing, because everybody knew what he was doing to the wrestlers. What was a shock to me is that Strauss tried to do that to me. He was breaking new ground by going after a ref.”

Jordan, for his part, has denied he knew anything about Strauss and attacked the media for a “desperate” attempt to try to take him down.

The latest allegation that Jordan knew about Strauss but failed to act comes as Republicans weigh adding Jordan to the House Intelligence Committee to help lead the GOP defense of Donald Trump.

Jordan has been a staunch Trump defender, and has engaged in stunts and worked hard to spin the damning news that’s emerged against Trump as part of the impeachment inquiry.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.