Republicans still can’t settle in numbers sufficient to actually seal the deal on a new Speaker of the House, though one of the names towards the top of the list is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who currently leads the House Judiciary Committee. Though the bulk of Republicans are putting forward Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) as their pick for Speaker, some Republicans have also already said they intend to vote for Jordan on the actual House floor, potentially blocking Scalise from the majority he would need.
As Republicans struggle with that mess, NBC News has presented comments from a group of former wrestlers at Ohio State University, where a now deceased former doctor for students there was eventually shown to be a longtime sexual abuser — including while Jordan was a coach, a role where former athletes have consistently asserted that Jordan knew what was transpiring. These individuals said almost universally that they felt Jordan should not ascend to the role of Speaker, which would make him close in line for the presidency, after the vice president.
Mike Schyck, a former wrestler at the school, was among those who spoke out. “[Jordan’s] locker was just a few spots away from mine and mine was near Dr. Strauss,’” Schyck stated. “And we were always talking about Dr. Strauss. There’s no way he didn’t know what was going on.”
Jordan and his team deny knowledge on his part of what was happening to students. “He put himself in this position,” Schyck said. “If early on he jumped in on our side and validated what we were saying, what everybody knew about what Dr. Strauss was doing to us, then this wouldn’t be happening. But he decided early on, for reasons I still don’t understand, that he was going to deny knowing anything about this.” Schyck tied the problem to the Speaker’s race. “Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” he asked. Read more from NBC at this link.
