Jim Jordan Was There. 177 Athletes Were Abused. He Says He Didn't Know.

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Richard Strauss was Ohio State's team physician for multiple sports from 1978 to 1998. He abused athletes during medical examinations, in showers, and in other settings. The abuse was not a secret among athletes — it was discussed, complained about, and, according to multiple accounts, was something coaches were aware of. Strauss died by suicide in 2005 before he could be prosecuted. Ohio State commissioned an independent investigation by the law firm Perkins Coie, which was completed in 2019 and confirmed that at least 177 student athletes had been abused across at least 14 sports over two decades.

What Former Wrestlers Say.

Multiple former Ohio State wrestlers have said directly and publicly that Jordan knew about Strauss's behavior. Mike DiSabato, a former OSU wrestler, told NBC News in 2018 that it was "absolutely impossible" that Jordan didn't know about the abuse, given how openly it was discussed. Dunyasha Yetts, another former wrestler, told the Columbus Dispatch that he had told Jordan about Strauss's behavior and that Jordan had brushed it off, saying the doctor "just liked to grab." Former wrestler Adam DiSabato testified before the Ohio state legislature in 2020 that he believed Jordan knew, and he criticized Jordan specifically for contacting him to urge him not to testify.

At least seven former wrestlers went on record saying Jordan either knew about or was told about Strauss's behavior. Jordan has denied all of it. He has said he never saw or heard anything about abuse while he was at Ohio State, and that the allegations against him are politically motivated. He has not been charged with any crime, and no formal finding has been made that he personally knew and failed to act — the investigation focused on institutional failures rather than individual coaches.

What the Investigation Found.

The Perkins Coie investigation, released in May 2019, concluded that Ohio State officials had "failed to take action to stop" Strauss despite receiving complaints. The report found that athletic department staff, including coaches, received complaints about Strauss. It documented that Strauss's behavior was widely known within the athletic program and that athletes reported being told to "just deal with it." The report did not name Jordan specifically in its findings — it focused on institutional failures — but it confirmed the environment in which Jordan worked was one where abuse was known and not addressed.

Ohio State reached a settlement in 2021 with more than 160 survivors for $40.9 million. Additional settlements followed. The university has acknowledged institutional failure. Jordan, meanwhile, was nominated for Speaker of the House in 2023. He lost three floor votes and withdrew, but remains a senior House Republican and chairs the House Judiciary Committee — a position from which he oversees, among other things, investigations into the Department of Justice.

The Pattern.

Jim Jordan has built his entire political brand on accountability — on investigating others, demanding answers, and using his position on the Judiciary Committee to conduct oversight of Democratic administrations and the DOJ. He was one of the most vocal advocates for investigating alleged misconduct by FBI and DOJ officials. He has called for accountability from every direction — except from himself, regarding eight years he spent as a coach at a university where hundreds of young men were being sexually abused.

The contrast is worth sitting with. Jordan demands transparency from everyone else. He stone-walled a congressional subpoena himself in 2022, refusing to testify about his communications with Trump on January 6th. He has never provided a full public accounting of what he knew at Ohio State. He has called the athletes who came forward politically motivated. He has faced no legal consequences. He remains one of the most powerful members of the United States Congress.