An NBC report quoted former athletes who said Rep. Jim Jordan, while coaching the Ohio State University wrestling team, ignored indications that the team doctor sexually abused team members. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Jordan denies explosive report that he ignored sex abuse

Rep. Jim Jordan, a top House conservative weighing a bid for speaker, is denying an explosive new report suggesting he turned a blind eye to evidence of a doctor's sexual abuse of students on the university wrestling team Jordan used to coach.

“Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State," Jordan's office said in a statement Tuesday. "He has not been contacted by investigators about the matter but will assist them in any way they ask, because if what is alleged is true, the victims deserve a full investigation and justice.”


The statement followed an NBC report Tuesday quoting former athletes who said that Jordan, while working as the assistant coach of Ohio State University's wrestling team from 1986 to 1994, ignored obvious indications that the team doctor, Richard Strauss, sexually abused multiple members of the team. Strauss died in 2005, according to NBC, and Jordan was elected to Congress in 2006.

The NBC story cited three former wrestling team members who said Jordan must have been aware of the alleged abuse, which they said was commonly acknowledged at the time. The story described Strauss as routinely showering with team members and inappropriately touching them during office appointments. Jordan, the wrestlers said, had to have known because it was an open secret.

Ohio State launched an investigation in April into accusations that Strauss had sexually violated athletes over a two-decade period. The university hired Perkins Coie, a prominent law firm, to oversee the investigation, and according to NBC News, the firm so far has interviewed more than 150 former students and witnesses.

According to the report, one former wrestler, Mike DiSabato, made a video of the former wrestling team’s head coach — Russ Hellickson, a mentor of Jordan’s — saying that Strauss had been too “hands on” with student-athletes.

DiSabato said Jordan asked him to “please leave me out of it” when he approached the congressman earlier this year about his intention to bring the alleged abuse to light.

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Another wrestler on the team in 1993 and 1994, Dunyasha Yetts, told NBC News that he had complained to Hellickson and Jordan after he went to Strauss for a thumb injury and Strauss asked him to pull down his pants. Yetts said Hellickson and Jordan “went in and talked to Strauss.”

The news is certain to rock the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which Jordan co-founded and now serves as its vice chairman. He has been the driving force behind many of its hard-line positions.

Jordan has become a favored ally of President Donald Trump for his hard-charging attacks on the FBI and Justice Department officials responsible for the ongoing Russia investigation.

He is also a key voice in the ongoing debate over immigration reform, driving support for a conservative overhaul that came up about 25 votes short of passage last week.

His Freedom Caucus allies have helped foment talk of a Jordan bid for the speakership. Though he's considered unlikely to prevail, he could use his leverage inside the House Republican Conference to help shape the next GOP leadership structure after Speaker Paul Ryan departs.

While in the Ohio state Senate in 2006, Jordan backed legislation that would have created a one-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to bring charges against perpetrators up to 35 years after the alleged incidents. News accounts at the time indicated Jordan was moved to support the legislation after hearing testimony from abuse victims.