WASHINGTON _ Honest, honorable and trustworthy _ these are all attributes House Republicans have ascribed to Rep. Jim Jordan as they've reacted skeptically to allegations that the Freedom Caucus founder ignored sexual abuse while an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who like Jordan are considered potential candidates to replace retiring Speaker Paul D. Ryan, were among those who defended Jordan.
"Jim and I came into Congress together 12 years ago and I have always found him to be a good and honest man. I believe Jim when he says if faced with charges of abuse, he absolutely would have acted," McCarthy said in a statement that also noted he is glad an investigation is underway.
"I have always known Jim Jordan to be honest, and I'm confident he would stand up for his athletes, just like he's always stood up for what's right," Scalise said in a statement. "I'm glad that Jim is committed to working with the investigators to see that the full truth comes out and justice is served."
While House members were away from Washington for the July 4 recess, NBC issued a report citing three former Ohio State wrestlers who said Jordan had to have known Dr. Richard Strauss, a doctor who worked with several athletic teams at the school, acted inappropriately toward, and in some cases sexually abused, wrestlers he treated. In April, the university launched an investigation into the allegations against Strauss, who died in 2005.
Since the NBC report, a few other former wrestlers have since raised similar claims in other media reports, while other former wrestlers and coaches have come to Jordan's defense. But even some of Jordan's defenders say it was fairly widespread knowledge that Strauss inappropriately looked at and sometimes touched genitalia of the male athletes.
Jordan has vehemently denied the allegations that he knew something and didn't report it.
"It's false," he said Friday on Fox News. "I mean I never saw, never heard of, never was told about any type of abuse. If I had been, I would have dealt with it. Our coaching staff _ we would have dealt with it."
Jordan also denied hearing of any type of abuse in the wrestling locker room, even though several of the former wrestlers said they frequently joked about having to pull down their pants if they had to visit Strauss for any medical issue, even if it did not involve their lower region.
But in the same interview, Jordan also sought to draw a distinction between locker room talk and allegations of abuse.
"Conversations in the locker room are a lot different than someone coming up to you and saying there was some kind of abuse." he said. "If there had been that, we would have dealt with it."
Several of Jordan's colleagues in the Freedom Caucus were among the first House Republicans to come to his defense, with at least nine of the three dozen conservatives in the group issuing statements or tweets over the past week.
"I have always known Jim Jordan to be a man of the utmost character, honor, and integrity," Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said in a statement. "As the independent investigation is concluded, I'm confident people will learn the truth and it will confirm all he has said about the situation. I'm proud to stand by Jim Jordan and support him 100 percent."
Freedom Caucus allies Matt Gaetz and Thomas Massie were also quick to defend Jordan.
"I support Jim Jordan," Massie tweeted Sunday. "He has tremendous integrity. I have faith in the American people and I believe most recognize a baseless smear campaign they see it. And no, I'm not even a member of the Freedom Caucus."
As House Republicans returned to Washington Tuesday, more members defended Jordan.
"I trust Jim," Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, GOP Conference vice chairman, said. "Jim says it's nothing."
Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he hadn't talked to Jordan but noted, "I tend to believe Jim Jordan is an honest person who wouldn't accept that if it was happening around him."
Fellow Ohio Republican Steve Stivers, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, called Jordan "honorable" and "truthful."
"I don't think he would make things up but I want to make sure the truth comes out," Stivers said, citing the university's investigation.
Stivers went to Ohio State and his district is nearby the university. The school told him it hopes to wrap up the investigation soon but it's not clear whether that will include a definitive answer on whether Jordan knew about allegations of abuse, he said.
"I think they're going to try to include as much information as they can on everything," he said.
While most House Republicans defended Jordan by saying the allegations do not align with his character, Jordan and some of his allies in the Freedom Caucus raised suspicions about the origin of the allegations.
"I think the timing is suspect from when you think about how this whole story came together after the Rosenstein interview ... with this whole talk about the speaker's race," Jordan said.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing June 28, Jordan had grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the Department of Justice's failure to fully comply with a congressional document request related to alleged FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The law firm Ohio State hired to conduct the investigation into Strauss has contracted Perkins Coie LLP, a firm the Democratic National Committee hired to help put together the dossier the FBI used to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page.
"The timing of these allegations, coming 13 years after the doctor died, combined with the questionable background of the accusers, and involving the counsel for the DNC, makes one thing clear: These are mere political statements intended to smear a good man," Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar said in a statement.
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert also raised the Perkins Coie connection in his statement defending Jordan.
"These former wrestlers were adults at the time they claim they were sexually abused by the Ohio State team doctor. ... They specifically state they did not tell Jordan but instead say he should have known because there was talk around the locker room," he said. "They waited over 20 years to make these allegations with the willing and very expensive assistance of Perkins Coie, a Washington, D.C.-based dirty tricks law firm."
Jordan said in the Fox interview he doesn't think there's any conspiracy involving Perkins Coie, but said they used a nonexistent email address in trying to reach him for an interview for the Ohio State investigation.
"The same law firm that can find an ex-British spy to put together a dossier to go after President Trump can't find the congressman's email address, can't get a hold of me, and then they tell the press, 'We reached out to him. He didn't respond.' That is just complete bogus," he said.
Jordan said he has since been in touch with the investigators and that he is expecting to talk to them this week.
