NBC News reported that four plaintiffs in lawsuits against the university said Jordan was to be questioned by lawyers representing hundreds of former OSU students who are suing the school in federal court in the Southern District of Ohio.
NBC reported that a Jordan spokesman released a statement saying, “As everyone knows, Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it.”
That has been Jordan’s stance on the scandal for years. Jordan in 2018 said he “would have done something” had he known about alleged sexual abuse of wrestlers during his time as an Ohio State assistant wrestling coach.
In 2018, former athletes who wrestled for Jordan when he served as an assistant coach at Ohio State alleged that he knew team doctor Strauss sexually abused athletes but Jordan failed to report it. NBC News first reported those allegations several years ago.
Jordan has declined interviews on the subject with this newspaper and other news outlets. A message seeking comment was left with Jordan’s Washington, D.C. office Monday.
Ohio State in April 2018 announced it was investigating accusations against Strauss, who had treated athletes and students as a team doctor in the university’s athletics program and a physician at the student health services center between 1978 and 1996.
Jordan worked as an assistant wrestling coach for part of that time. Strauss, who retired as a professor emeritus in July 1998, died in California in 2005.
Jordan, an Ohio representative since 2007 and one of President Trump’s most vocal allies in Congress, failed in a bid at becoming House speaker in 2023.
Jordan is a Graham High School and University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate. He received his master’s degree at Ohio State.
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