Trevor Noah: 'Scumbag' Rep. Jim Jordan is like 'Joe Paterno, Part 2'

Maeve McDermott | USA TODAY

Rep. Jim Jordan announced last week he will run for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, as controversy swirls around the Congressman's pre-Washington stint as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University in the 1990s. His former athletes claim Jordan knew team doctor Richard Strauss had sexually abused them and their teammates, and he did nothing to stop the misconduct.

Trevor Noah took aim at Jordan on Wednesday evening's "Daily Show," calling him "Joe Paterno, Part. 2," referring to the Penn State football coach who fell from grace after his role in enabling the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal was made public.

"Before he was in Congress, he worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State, and we're just now learning that one of his trademark moves may have been enabling sexual abuse," he said. "Turning a blind eye to rampant sexual abuse of the kids you're supposed to be protecting? I'm sorry, it doesn't get more scumbag than that."

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Noah went onto compare Jordan to Dennis Hastert, the former Ilinois congressman who, after serving as House Speaker from 1997 to 2007, spent 13 months in prison for a bank fraud case linked to allegations he sexually abused teen boys as a high school wrestling coach more than 30 years ago.

"Believe it or not, a lot of House Republicans are standing behind Jim Jordan," he said. "Maybe it's because they've already seen much worse. Back in the 2000s, a man named Dennis Hastert was the Republican House Speaker, and he later admitted to molesting children when he was a wrestling coach, and he was convicted for paying hush money to cover it up. So at the very worst, Jim Jordan is an upgrade from that."

"And frankly, I think that's what he should run on," he continued, mocking Jordan's potential campaign slogan. "Dennis Hastert was an admitted pedophile, he abused multiple young boys and tried to hide his horrific actions with payoffs. Jim Jordan is only accused of enabling sexual abuse, and the victims weren't children. He is the progress we need. Jim Jordan: not as bad as a pedophile."