UPDATE (Oct. 11, 2023, 2:29 p.m. ET): House Republicans on Wednesday voted to nominate Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., for the speakership. Scalise defeated Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in a 113-99 vote.
Rep. Nancy Mace appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” a few days ago, and during the interview, the South Carolina Republican endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for House speaker.
Host Margaret Brennan reminded her guest, “I know you’ve been outspoken about defending victims of sexual assault. Do the past allegations against Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you any reservations? How do you square that?”
Mace claimed to have no idea what Brennan was referring to. “Yeah, I’m not familiar or aware with that,” the congresswoman replied. “He’s not indicted on anything that I’m aware of. And so I don’t, I don’t know anything and I can’t speak to that. … I don’t know anything about that.”
The host was, of course, referring to allegations that Jordan turned a blind eye to sexual abuses at Ohio State during his tenure as a coach at the university. As NBC News reported overnight, the controversy is relevant anew as the far-right congressman tries to ascend to Congress’ most powerful office.
Four of the former Ohio State University wrestlers who have accused Rep. Jim Jordan of failing to protect them from a sexual predator when he was the team’s assistant coach in the 1980s and ‘90s said Tuesday he has no business being the next speaker of the House.
NBC News quoted former OSU wrestler Mike Schyck, one of the hundreds of former athletes and students who say they were sexually abused, saying, “Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys? Is that the kind of character trait you want for a House speaker?”
For those who might need a refresher — NBC News first broke this story five years ago — let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Starting in 2018, Ohio State University confronted a controversy surrounding the late Dr. Richard Strauss, a former physician for student athletes from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, who’s been accused of molesting students during his tenure. Independent investigators ultimately concluded that the doctor sexually abused 177 male students.
Jordan, an assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994, denied knowing anything about the abuse, though NBC News reported that the Ohio Republican’s denials, were “met with skepticism and anger from some former members of the wrestling team.” A year later, NBC News published a related report on a referee having filed a lawsuit claiming he reported an incident directly to Jordan, who allegedly shrugged it off. “It was common knowledge what Strauss was doing so the attitude was it is what it is,” the referee said, adding that he wished Jordan, among others, “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.” The congressman has repeatedly said he was in the dark about the abuses, despite others’ claims to the contrary. The degree to which the allegations might affect Jordan’s bid for the speaker’s gavel remains to be seen. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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