Besides his antics as a leader of the new House panel on the so-called weaponization of the federal government, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also continues facing scrutiny over his role in allegedly helping a decades-long pattern of sexual abuse by a sports physician who worked with athletes at Ohio State University continue.
A documentary with production companies behind it including a firm helmed in part by actor George Clooney will be released through the cable network HBO, whose content is also generally available via a streaming service. A woman named Eva Orner, who’s won accolades from both the Emmys and the Oscars, is directing the project, the contents of which will grow in large part from a 2020 story in Sports Illustrated about the abuse, perpetrated by a man named Richard Strauss. In that story, Mark Coleman, who has a history as a wrestler, was featured, and Coleman has directly accused Jordan of “knowingly” ignoring what Strauss was doing, as reports summarized. “Coleman also alleges that Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio State assistant wrestling coach for part of Strauss’ time at the university, knowingly ignored Strauss’ abuse,” The Hollywood Reporter summarized.
Clooney himself commented on the new production, saying: “Grant [Heslov] and I are very proud to be working on this project with HBO. It’s a devastating story about people in power abusing and then covering up their criminal actions against students. The fact that it hasn’t been resolved as of yet is deeply disturbing.” The category of those responsible for a cover-up of the abuse perpetrated against hundreds of students would seemingly include Jordan.
This production isn’t the first to recently become a subject in the news that covers a sexual abuse scandal involving someone prominent in conservative politics. A new documentary on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh led by established director Doug Liman also recently emerged, spotlighting elements of the accusations against the Trump pick for the court including information provided by someone who went to Yale University around the same period as the eventual Justice and said he personally witnessed an incident similar in nature to — but distinct from — an instance of sexual abuse by Kavanaugh that fellow student Deborah Ramirez said she suffered while there. An FBI look at some of these details was widely questioned, considering the agency sent potentially relevant info to the Trump White House, where there obviously wouldn’t have been much of any motivation to substantially act on what was made known.
