“Sexual abuse can happen to anyone, and both men and women are sometimes afraid to come forward for fear of not being believed or taken seriously,” Omear said. “Cultural stereotypes about men and how they portray masculinity can make it harder for men to disclose their assault and add additional challenges to their recovery. It's important to remind male survivors that they too are not alone, and that resources like the National Sexual Assault Hotline are there to support all survivors.”<doc-sep>A video that was created to spur on the internal university investigation into a former Ohio State University wrestling doctor — and last week led to questions about what Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a former coach, knew about the alleged abuse at the time — is an emotional recounting of what one former athlete has called a "cesspool of sexual deviance." The heavily edited 11-minute video, excerpted here, features wrenching descriptions of the alleged misconduct by Dr. Richard Strauss from two former wrestlers whom Jordan coached more than two decades ago, and from former head coach Russ Hellickson and a former Ohio State student who worked with Strauss at a clinic and who says he, too, was molested by the doctor. Jordan, who was the assistant wrestling coach under Hellickson, is not mentioned by name nor referred to in the footage, which was obtained by NBC News from former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato, the initial whistleblower. DiSabato says he created the video in June to collect accusations of abuse against Strauss and turned it over to Ohio State. The video received by NBC News did not include the unedited interviews. In the original video given to NBC News, Hellickson says he confronted Strauss directly about his misbehavior, telling the doctor he was too "hands on" with the wrestlers and that his showering with the team made them uncomfortable. He also says inappropriate behavior in the wrestling room and showers extended beyond Strauss and that he complained about the behavior, which included people having sex in the wrestling room and watching athletes in the shower, to then-Ohio State intramural sports and recreation director Fred Beekman. “Certainly all my administrators recognized it was an issue for me,” Hellickson says in the footage. “I’m sure that I talked to them on numerous occasions about my discontent with the environment. I know I had a lot of conversations with Fred Beekman about it. But nothing ever changed.” Beekman died in 2010 and NBC has not been able to reach his surviving relatives for comment. Strauss killed himself in 2005. In a statement, Strauss’s son, Scott, said his family was “shocked and saddened to hear the allegations of misconduct against the late Dr. Richard H. Strauss.” It's not clear from the footage whether Hellickson says he specifically reported abuse by Strauss to higher-ups. Hellickson has not returned calls for comment since NBC News first reported last week that several wrestlers were accusing Jordan of turning a blind eye to Strauss's alleged behavior. DiSabato, who recounts on the video the abuse he says he himself endured, filmed the footage before questions emerged about what Jordan knew about the alleged abuse at the time. “We didn’t think Jim would lie about not knowing what everybody knew was happening when we made the video,” DiSabato told NBC News. “It didn’t occur to us that he would lie.” DiSabato and some of the other athletes who say they were molested by Strauss are now being represented by the Sharp Law firm, which is based in Prairie Village, Kansas. Jordan, who coached at the university from 1986 to 1994, denied knowing about any abuse after Ohio State announced on April 5 that it had launched an investigation. He has continued to deny knowing about the alleged abuse over the past week, as six former wrestlers have contradicted the congressman's claims to NBC News, saying Strauss' inappropriate behavior was common knowledge in the locker room. One wrestler said he reported the alleged abuse directly to Jordan, an account corroborated by a second wrestler to NBC News. “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse,” Jordan told Fox News on Friday. “No one ever reported any abuse to me. I would have dealt with it.” Asked if he heard any locker-room banter about Strauss, Jordan replied, “No. No. No type of abuse. We did not hear that.” Jordan, who confirmed in the Fox interview that he will be speaking this week to the OSU investigators, also appeared to assert that his accusers were lying and suggested there might be political motives for them doing so. A founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Jordan is considered a possible replacement for Rep. Paul Ryan as the next speaker of the House. Six former wrestlers who have spoken with NBC News said they admired and respected Jordan and were dismayed that he denied knowing anything about Strauss's misbehavior. At least three other wrestlers, who spoke with other publications and whose accounts have not been verified by NBC News, have expressed similar sentiments about Jordan. Reid Delman, 50, who attended Ohio State in the early '90s said Strauss “never left me crying in the shower,” but gave him “thorough” checkups that made him “uncomfortable.” Though he doesn’t fault Jordan, Delman told NBC News that Jordan was “part of the talk. “I’ve tried to imagine [the coaches] not knowing," Delman continued. "I don’t want to be part of something that’s getting Jim out of office. I don’t even like the idea of it. I do find it surprising that he would even take that approach. Because the times were different. It’s easy enough to say, looking back, we should have done something.” Another former wrester who attended Ohio State in the late 1980s and asked to remain anonymous told NBC News he “can't imagine,” Jordan didn't hear the constant “locker-room banter" about Strauss. Some former wrestlers, including two who spoke to NBC News, and other people involved with the wrestling program have defended Jordan, saying he would not have turned a blind eye to reports of abuse. On Monday, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, a Virginia-based public relations firm that supports conservative politicians and causes, distributed a series of statements in support of Jordan from Hellickson and five former Ohio State assistant coaches. “At no time while Jim Jordan was a coach with me at Ohio State did either of us ignore abuse of our wrestlers,” Hellickson reportedly said. “This is not the kind of man Jim is, and it is not the kind of coach that I was.” According to Shirley & Banister, all six of the former coaches, including Hellickson, signed a statement saying that "None of us saw or heard of abuse of OSU wrestlers.” Hellickson also reportedly told The Hill this week that “a whole lot of people were in the dark” about the alleged Strauss abuse. “Jim Jordan didn’t know anything,” Hellickson said, according to The Hill. “I didn’t know anything, and I don’t think any of the other coaches knew anything.” On the video, Hellickson says that he complained to Ohio State administrators that strangers were coming to ogle the wrestlers in the showers at Larkins Hall, where the team worked out. “I caught people having sex in our wrestling room, in our stairwell to the wrestling room, in the bathroom adjacent to our wrestling facility,” the coach says on the video of the building, which was demolished in 2005. “It became a real problem…. There were times when some of the athletes themselves would confront people and say, ‘Get out of here. You’re here all the time. You’re watching me. I don’t like it.'" Mark Coleman, a former Ohio State wrestler and a former UFC world champion, describes in the footage how Strauss allegedly molested him under the guise of giving him a physical and how he was too afraid to protest. "And then he actually grabs your penis and looks at your penis," he says. "I don't know what the f--- he's looking for. I never had a physical like this before.” DiSabato says on the tape that it was common knowledge in the locker room that Strauss was allegedly molesting the wrestlers. “Everybody knew before you were going into the room that Doc Strauss was going to touch you,” he says. “It was like the joke before you went in there…you got a sore shoulder, drop your pants.” Strauss’ alleged excessive showering with the team was also well known in the locker room, DiSabato says.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — A former Ohio State wrestler has accused Rep. Jim Jordan — one of the most powerful conservatives in Congress — of knowingly ignoring sexual abuse allegations while Jordan was a wrestling coach at Ohio State University. In April, Ohio State announced it was opening an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against its former wrestling team physician, Dr. Richard Strauss. Strauss, who served as the team's doctor from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, died in 2005. Jordan, an Ohio Republican first elected to the House in 2006, worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State from 1987 until 1995. Jordan has been contacted by officials investigating the abuse allegations but he has not yet responded, according to a spokeswoman for the law firm representing Ohio State. Jordan, a former college wrestling champion, has said he did not know about Strauss's alleged behavior until the doctor's accusers came forward publicly this spring. But Mike DiSabato, a former Ohio State wrestler, said Strauss's groping of student athletes was widely known at the university. He claimed Jordan was aware. NBC News first reported the allegations from DiSabato and two other former wrestlers. "Doc Strauss was a serial groper," DiSabato told USA TODAY. "Everyone knew, including Jim." Ian Fury, a spokesman for Jordan, said the congressman had no knowledge of the alleged abuse and has not been contacted by investigators hired by Ohio State. “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," Fury said in an email to USA TODAY. "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.” Part of the university's investigation includes determining if anyone at Ohio State knew about the allegations and should have reported them. “These are deeply troubling allegations, and we are committed to get to the bottom of this,” Ohio State President Michael Drake said at a recent meeting. Kathleen M. Trafford, a spokeswoman for the law firm representing Ohio State, said the investigative team had contacted Rep. Jordan’s office by email and phone to request that he participate in an interview. "To date, Rep. Jordan has not responded to those requests,” said Trafford, who works for the firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur. The firm was appointed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to serve as legal counsel for Ohio State. "We understand from public statements issued on his behalf today that Rep. Jordan is willing to talk to the investigative team," she said. "The investigative team is continuing its efforts to schedule an interview with Rep. Jordan, as well as other individuals with potential knowledge relating to the allegations." Fury, Jordan's spokesman, said the congressman's office has searched for its records for calls or emails from Porter or other investigators, but has not found any communication seeking Jordan's assistance in the probe. “Despite claims to the contrary, Congressman Jordan’s office has not received a request for interview from the investigative team. We have demanded that they send us the supposed communication and remain willing to assist in any way that we can,” Fury said. Porter has hired a second firm, Perkins Coie, to investigate the allegations. DiSabato and two other ex-wrestlers told NBC it was common knowledge that Strauss showered with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments. They told NBC it would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware, and one wrestler said he told Jordan directly about Strauss's abuse. “I remember I had a thumb injury and went into Strauss’ office and he started pulling down my wrestling shorts,” ex-wrestler Dunyasha Yetts told NBC. “I’m like, what the f--- are you doing? And I went out and told Russ and Jim what happened. I was not having it. They went in and talked to Strauss.” Russ Hellickson was the head coach at the time. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Moral obligation to talk publicly DiSabato told USA TODAY he has stayed in regular contact with Jordan since leaving Ohio State, and he believes the congressman has a "moral obligation" to talk publicly about the abuse. "I understand folks are uncomfortable with sex abuse. But Jim is a leader," he said. "He’s an elected official (who) represents the state of Ohio and he’s also our former coach," DiSabato added. "And he has a moral obligation, and quite frankly a fiduciary obligation to taxpayers of the state of Ohio, to tell the ... truth." Asked about Jordan's assertions that he did not know anything, DiSabato responded: "He did know, and he’s lying." DiSabato told NBC that he contacted Jordan earlier this year to tell the congressman he planned to go public with his allegations. Jordan told him to "please leave me out of it," DiSabato told NBC. "He asked me not to get him involved." Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for Ohio State, said the university opened the investigation on April 5, when a former student came forward with allegations of abuse. The investigation has now expanded far beyond the university’s wrestling team to include athletes who played other sports, as well as people who may have met with Strauss while they were high school students. “Perkins Coie now has received confidential reports of sexual misconduct committed by Strauss from former varsity men student-athletes in 14 sports and from former patients of Student Health Services within the Office of Student Life,” Johnson said in a statement. “The sports include baseball, cheerleading, cross country, fencing, football, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling,” he added. “The Perkins team is also investigating whether, and to what extent, Dr. Strauss may have examined high school-aged students during his time at the university.” Influential House conservative Jordan is one of the most vocal and influential conservatives in the House — and he's eyeing a bid for the top GOP leadership slot. He co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, a faction of about 30 ultra-conservative Republicans who often buck the GOP leadership on legislation they see as too moderate. Jordan was among those who helped to oust former House Speaker John Boehner, a fellow Ohio Republican whom Jordan saw as too eager to compromise with Democrats. This spring — around the same time the Ohio State investigation began — Jordan said he was interested in running for House speaker to succeed retiring Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. That would mean challenging the current frontrunner for the slot, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican. “I’ve had colleagues encourage me to consider that and I’m open to that,” Jordan told USA TODAY in mid April. It's unlikely Jordan could get enough votes to win the speakership himself, but he could get the support of dozens of his hardline colleagues, which could derail McCarthy's bid. This is not the first time questions have been raised about Jordan's knowledge of improper sexual behavior. Last year, the Washington Post reported that then-Ohio state Rep. Wes Goodman, a one-time aide to Jordan, allegedly fondled an 18-year-old college student at a conservative group's event in Washington. Goodman later resigned from the state Legislature, after he was accused of "inappropriate behavior" in his office with a man. Goodman worked as an aide to Jordan for several years before running for office himself. When the allegations emerged, Jordan's spokeswoman at the time, Melika Willoughby, said Jordan's office was unaware of any allegations against Goodman. "During his employment with our office, we heard no allegations of wrongdoing and received no accusations of misconduct," Willoughby told the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2017. "Congressman Jordan is deeply disappointed by this troubling news." Contributing: Eliza Collins and Jessie Balmert<doc-sep>
Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) conservative allies are questioning the premise of an unfolding sexual abuse scandal, claiming the allegations — that a team doctor groped young men during physical exams, and Jordan knew about it — are overblown. About half a dozen former Ohio State wrestlers say Jordan had to have known young men were complaining about being fondled by the team doctor in the 1990s, when Jordan was an assistant coach. Jordan’s defenders in Congress, meanwhile, say there’s no way he would have stayed quiet if something terrible was going on and he was aware of it. At the heart of the dispute is that to Jordan’s defenders in the House, the allegations don’t spell out clear abuse. And even if they did, Jordan shouldn’t be held responsible. When pressed, Republican lawmakers say the rhetoric around the wrestler’s allegations is hyperbolic, and that the media’s response to the specifics of this case is in search of a salacious story. “These weren’t children. These were adults,” said Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), a colleague of Jordan’s in the Freedom Caucus, while speaking to Vox about the wrestlers claiming they were groped. “My understanding is, this was a university program. It can still be wrong. So you start to lay it out, you say it should be investigated. But from what you know right now, does it qualify for the level of theater we are seeing?” At least six former athletes have said they experienced routine visits from voyeurs who would engage in sexual acts while the students trained or showered, and that the team doctor, Richard Strauss, would shower with the young men even if he hadn’t participated in the exercise. The wrestling team’s head coach, Russ Hellickson, confirmed he was aware of these accounts in a video interview sent to Ohio State, excerpts of which were published by NBC on Thursday. Strauss allegedly would grope young male students during physical exams — one witness said to the point of making them ejaculate — Politico reported. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), another colleague of Jordan’s in the Freedom Caucus, said the slew of allegations “doesn’t pass the smell test.” “Unlike the Olympians who were minor children at the time they were abused, these former wrestlers were adults at the time they claim they were sexually abused by the Ohio State team doctor,” Gohmert said in a statement, suggesting that it was their responsibility to report the doctor to the authorities, not Jordan. Schweikert, who emphasized that the athletes were adults, also commented that Jordan shouldn’t be held responsible because of his youth. “Jim wasn’t running the place — he was a kid,” Schweikert said. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, who has defended Jordan’s character, also believes he’s been disproportionately targeted given his low-level job at the time. “Jim Jordan was not the school administrator. Jim Jordan was not the head coach. You have reports that it happened across 14 different sports, of perhaps what is one of the largest athletic venues in the entire country, and somehow it’s the fault of a 22-year-old assistant wrestling coach from 30 years ago.” Meadows said. Jordan’s definition of “abuse” Jordan himself suggested that the term “abuse” is not clear-cut. Several former wrestlers have claimed Jordan was in the locker room when athletes were discussing their experiences with Strauss, and that the subject was often nervously joked about. One wrestler claimed that Jordan said he’d “kill [Strauss] if he tried anything” with Jordan, in response to the locker room conversation. Jordan has denied seeing, hearing about, or being told about any kind of sexual abuse. In an interview with Fox News, Jordan addressed the chatter about the team doctor in the locker room, differentiating it from reports of “abuse.” “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse or reported abuse to us,” Jordan said. “No one ever reported abuse to me.” Wrestlers have described the locker room as a toxic place, a “gauntlet of sexual deviancy” as one put it. Wrestlers told Politico that coaches, like Jordan, often had to kick voyeurs out of the sauna and practice areas. The accused team doctor, however, went unchecked. “There is an investigation going on and if there’s people that have been harmed then they deserve justice,” Jordan said this week.