 Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. "It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down.” 
 
 Dailey spoke out two days after NBC News reported that three former wrestlers who were coached by Jordan more than two decades ago accused the GOP congressman of turning a blind eye to Strauss' alleged abuse and then lying about it. Jordan, who was assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994, has repeatedly said he knew nothing of the abuse until former students began speaking out this spring, and continued to deny it on Tuesday. “They largely wanted to know what my experiences were, what had happened, if it had been reported.” 
 
 Yetts and two other former Ohio State wrestlers previously told NBC News that it was common knowledge that Strauss showered regularly with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments. Former head coach Russ Hellickson, Jordan's mentor, said in a recent video — made by Mike DiSabato, a former wrestler — that Hellickson had told Strauss that he was being too "hands on” with students. DiSabato, whose allegations against Strauss prompted Ohio State to open its investigation, called Jordan a “liar.” 
 
 “I considered Jim Jordan a friend,” DiSabato said. Asked if they questioned him about Jordan’s actions at the time, as well as the actions of the other coaches, Daily answered, “They did.” 
 
 “I was one of the first five or 10 people they spoke with,” Dailey said he was told by investigators. Dailey corroborated the account of one of those wrestlers, Dunyasha Yetts, who told NBC News that Yetts had protested to Jordan and head coach Russ Hellickson after Strauss tried to pull down his wrestling shorts when Yetts went to see him for a thumb injury. And I went out and told Russ and Jim what happened. “There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State,” Mr. Coleman, the mixed martial arts champion, said of Mr. Jordan in an interview Wednesday. As for Jordan, Yetts said, “He’s a great guy. “I don’t believe them at all," Trump said of the allegations against Jordan. Doc used to take showers with the team even though he didn’t do any workouts, and everybody used to snicker about how you go into his office for a sore shoulder and he tells you to take your pants down.” 
 
 When the first stories about the university investigation appeared this spring, Jordan told The Columbus Dispatch, “I had not heard about any type of abuse at all.” He also said that “no one reported any type of abuse” to him. After NBC News reached out to Jordan, the congressman’s spokesman repeated the denial. “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,” his spokesman, Ian Fury, said in an email to NBC News. Jordan denied knowing anything about the abuse and continues to do so. Jordan, a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most conservative representatives, is a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and is frequently mentioned as a possible replacement for the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  WASHINGTON—Five former wrestlers, including former UFC world champion Mark Coleman, said this week that Rep. Jim Jordan was aware of, but didn’t respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by an Ohio State University team doctor when the lawmaker was an assistant wrestling coach there in the 1990s. Hellickson, an Olympics silver medalist in wrestling in 1976 who has done commentary from the games for NBC Sports, did not return calls for comment. Ohio State University / via AP file 
 
 The Perkins Coie law firm, which is overseeing the probe for the university, has interviewed more than 150 former students and witnesses so far, OSU officials said. OSU said it has also reached out “to the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for any potential criminal investigation.” 
 
 “To date, Perkins Coie has interviewed more than 150 former students and witnesses and is engaged in further investigative efforts,” the university said in the statement. A 1978 employment application information for Dr. Richard Strauss, from Ohio State University personnel files. Citing Los Angeles County coroner records, The Columbus Dispatch reported that Strauss died of suicide in 2005 after struggling with pain and other health issues. One of the wrestlers, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. It was, DiSabato said, like walking through “the gauntlet of sexual deviancy.” 
 
 Another former wrestler whose testimony appears on the video DiSabato submitted to investigators described how Strauss grabbed his penis during an examination. “Probably, because I was scared.” 
 
 He broke down when asked why, after all these years, he was speaking out. “There were so many signs about what Strauss was doing and that they were ignored. It's very frustrating.” 
 
 Dailey said he’s speaking out now because he knows it’s hard for men to publicly acknowledge sexual abuse, and he wants to be an “advocate for men and boys to come forward with these issues.” 
 
 “You get the sense that you’re really not going to get justice,” he said.
– The number of Ohio State wrestlers who've come forward to say Rep. Jim Jordan knew about abuse at the hands of their team doctor is rising, despite Jordan's adamant denials. After an initial report on three former wrestlers, NBC News interviews a fourth accuser, Shawn Dailey, who says he was groped several times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-'90s, when Jordan was the team's assistant coach. "It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down," Dailey, now 43, says, adding he never approached Jordan about his own abuse but took part in locker room discussions about Strauss with Jordan. Dailey specifically backs up the account of former teammate Dunyasha Yetts, saying Jordan's reply to Yetts after Yetts complained about Strauss was: "If he tried that with me, I would kill him." Dailey notes he's a Republican, like Jordan, whom he calls a "close friend" and "good guy" whose campaign he donated to in 1994. Still, "what happened drove me out of the sport," he says. "So I was surprised to hear Jim say that he knew nothing about it. … That's kind of hurtful." Former UFC champ Mark Coleman also speaks out, telling the Wall Street Journal "there's no way unless [Jordan's] got dementia or something that he's got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State. … I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew as far as I'm concerned." Meanwhile, President Trump has weighed in, telling reporters Thursday that he believes Jordan "100%, no question in my mind." "Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I've met since I've been in Washington," Trump said, adding he doesn't believe the allegations against him "at all."