Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan could be deposed over allegations he knew about the sexual assaults perpetrated by Ohio State University Dr. Richard Strauss but failed to protect the student wrestlers, according to a report.
Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, served as the assistant coach for the wrestling team from 1978 to 1998. Students discussed their alleged assaults with Jordan and other staff members, according to claims made in a civil suit brought by dozens of former students against the school.
The Congressman, who is not a defendant in the case, may be deposed as soon as Friday, four plaintiffs told NBC News. A lawyer for the plaintiffs confirmed to The Independent that Jordan is scheduled to be deposed.
Jordan has repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged cover-up.
“As everyone knows, Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it,” Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Jordan, told The Independent.
The expected deposition comes one month after HBO released the documentary Surviving Ohio State, 20 years after Strauss died. Survivors first emerged with allegations in 2018.
In the documentary, Dan Ritchie, who wrestled at the university from 1988 to 1992, alleged that Strauss was known to conduct unnecessary genital exams with ungloved hands.
Ritchie claimed Jordan addressed these rumors directly with his athletes, telling them: “If he ever did that to me, I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
Mike DiSabato, who wrestled for Jordan and was the first to launch allegations against Strauss, told NBC News that he expects the Ohio Republican to “triple down” on his denials.
“I assume he’s going to triple down and follow the same script he followed back in 2018 when he went on Fox and denied knowing about any abuse, denied being told of any abuse, never heard the word ‘abuse,’” DiSabato told the outlet.
Steve Snyder-Hill, a former OSU student who alleges abuse by Strauss, recalled in the documentary: “Somebody asked me one time, they said, ‘Are you a survivor or are you a victim?’ He reflected: “I had to think about that, and I thought, you know what? I’m a survivor of sexual assault, but I’m a victim of OSU.”
He plans to watch the deposition Friday, he told NBC News. “I expect him to lie under oath,” Snyder-Hill said of Jordan. “I don’t know a nicer way to put it.”
Jordan’s locker was very close to Strauss so Snyder-Hill doubts Jordan’s claims that he didn’t know what was going on. Snyder-Hill told the outlet: “That’s hard to believe.”
Since the initial investigations emerged, the university has paid more than $60 million in settlement money to nearly 300 survivors.
Michael V. Drake, who served as OSU president when the scandal broke and the investigations began, issued a statement on behalf of the school at the time apologizing “to each person who endured Strauss’ abuse.”
He said: “Our institution’s fundamental failure at the time to prevent this abuse was unacceptable – as were the inadequate efforts to thoroughly investigate complaints raised by students and staff members.”
