Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a darling of the right, is former President Trump’s choice to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But as Jordan campaigns for the gavel, several men from his past are speaking out about a major sex abuse scandal at Ohio State University, where Jordan worked as an assistant wrestling coach.

1987 to 1995

repeating allegations that Jordan denies

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knew about the abuse.

The wrestlers and other advocates for survivors, including former Fox News star Gretchen Carlson, have argued that Jordan has missed recent opportunities to help victims of abuse.

An upcoming documentary about sexual abuse in the state of Ohio that actor and director George Clooney is producing

HBOMax

could soon draw even more attention to the scandal and to Jordan, who will be the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican if elevated to chairman.

Jordan has consistently denied knowledge of athletes’ allegations against athletics doctor Richard Strauss, who sexually abused at least 177 male students between 1979 and 1996.

1987 and 1995,

according to a

2019

report commissioned by the university. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.

Jordan

Spokesman Russell Dye reiterated Jordan’s denial in an email Monday, saying the Ohio congressman “never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have had to deal with it.”

But several wrestlers Jordan coached have repeatedly and publicly claimed he knew about the abuse.

Former wrestler Dan Ritchie told The Times that Jordan was in the locker room when players referenced Strauss’ abuse between 1989 and 1990.

“I remember a few occasions where we brought up the abuse with Jim and he said, If [Strauss] “If I ever tried that on me, I’d break his neck like a piece of dried balsa wood,” said Ritchie, 53. “Our coaches all knew it.”

Mike Flusche,

So

a

colleague

wrestler around the same time, said he remembers hearing Jordan’s “balsa wood” comment. “I was one of the people in the locker room that heard him say that, so for Jim to say he didn’t know is just a straight up lie,” said 5-year-old Flusche.

7

.

Michael Schyck, also a wrestler when Jordan was in college, said he couldn’t understand Jordan’s lack of knowledge of the abuse. “Everyone knew what Strauss was about.”

“To say Jordan didn’t know would be downright ridiculous,” Schyck, 53, said. There was an opportunity for it [Jordan] to step up and not worry about himself and be there for his guys.”

He added: “This was something that was real and that happened.

Jordan

has

previously claimed that the 2019 report had proven him right.

But while the report states that investigators “have not identified any contemporary documentary evidence that members of the OSU coaching staff, including head coaches or assistant coaches, received complaints or were aware of complaints of sexual misconduct from Strauss,” investigators also found

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student athletes have spoken openly about the doctor’s abuse and that 22 unnamed coaches confirmed their knowledge of the abuse.

The statue of limitations for Strauss’ abuse has long since expired, and the university said in 2022 that it had settled with 296 survivors for more than $60 million. The university failed in June to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a new wave of lawsuits against more than 230 men.

Jordan recently declined to support two bipartisan bills championed by survivor advocates.

Former Fox News host

star

Gretchen Carlson, who sued Fox News executive Roger Ailes for sexual harassment

2016,

has become one of the most prolific advocates in recent years for legislation to prevent powerful men who engage in workplace harassment from escaping consequences.

Last year, Carlson convinced President Biden and

majority of

both parties

support a new law

banning private companies from forcing customers and employees into arbitration over allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Carlson told The Times that during the House vote on the arbitration bill, a Republican lawmaker told her that Jordan said he would not vote for it but would have supported a bill aimed at non-disclosure agreements, which could prevent victims of sexual abuse with the press about their stories.

In a speech before the vote, Jordan, who opposed the legislation, complained that while “much of the pressure on this bill comes from concerns about confidentiality … the text of this bill never, ever actually addresses confidentiality – or non-disclosure agreements.”

Carlson and her allies believed Jordan could support a bill that would ban the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual harassment and abuse. Jordan, which was the top member of the Judiciary Committee at the time, would be a powerful ally. So while the house was there

votes on still in debate t

After the arbitration bill, she started working on legislation, later called the Speak Out Act, that would deal with confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

“I don’t even know if he realizes this, but he was the impetus for creating the Speak Out Act,” Carlson said.

When Carlson approached Jordan eight months later to confirm his support, she was stunned that he was “very non-committal.”

Jordan was one of 109 Republicans who voted against the bill.

“I was very disappointed,” Carlson said.

Jordan’s spokesman, Dye, declined to comment on Carlson’s story.

Jordan continues to face fierce opposition to his bid to become chairman. But seeing his face on national news and hearing his repeated denials that he knew about the abuse did not sit well with the survivors The Times interviewed.

“Of all the people who came out and said he knew, he didn’t see anything, it was a stab in the heart and in the back for me,” said Ritchie, who lives outside.

Columbus

, Ohio. Ritchie said he ultimately left the team because of the interactions he had with Strauss, because “no one took it seriously and if no one does anything about it, then why am I trying to figure out how to take it.”

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”

Schyck, who now lives there

England

, Florida, said Jordan’s denials are “something that needs to be taken into account” as he runs for speakers. “But I am one person in this and my position is about a doctor who abused us.”

Flusche said the speakership, which is second only to the presidency, should require someone with integrity.

“I’m sure he lied to protect his political career, which unfortunately many politicians do, but that still doesn’t make it right,” said Flusche, who lives outside Columbus, Ohio. But the role of a House speaker “should be all about character.”

“And I don’t think he has it,” he added.

Colorado-based sexual abuse attorney John Clune told The Times that federal Title IX regulations, when Jordan was an assistant coach, would not have required him to report abuse unless the state or university had its own reporting requirement. University spokesman Benjamin Johnson would not say whether Jordan should have reported Strauss under university policy if he had known of the allegations against the docotr. L. Camille Hbert, a law scholar at the university’s Moritz College of Law, told The Times in an email that one could argue that “regardless of legal requirements, one would have a moral obligation to report knowledge about students who have been sexually abused. ”