Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife on Monday jumped into the controversy swirling around Rep. Jim Jordan — claiming on Facebook that allegations that the Ohio lawmaker ignored sexual abuse while he was a college wrestling coach were false.
“Jim Jordan is under attack, with false accusations, because he threatens the elite,” Ginni Thomas wrote along with video of a Fox News interview with the combatively pro-Trump GOP lawmaker in which he claims to have known nothing about sexual misconduct.
Seven former wrestlers at Ohio State University have come forward to describe what they called widespread sexual misconduct by a team physician.
They said there was no way Jordan, an assistant coach, didn’t know about the allegations because the entire team and coaching staff had repeatedly discussed it.
Mike DiSabato, a former Ohio wrestler, accused Jordan of “absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”
The players charged that they were sexually assaulted by Dr. Richard Strauss, a former OSU doctor who died in 2005.
The university has hired an outside firm to investigate the charges, and the firm so far has interviewed more than 150 people.
One former Ohio State University wrestler told CNN that he and other wrestlers openly gripe about how Strauss would shower with the athletes, and how Strauss would always “check for hernias” during any visit, checking their genitals even if they had an appointment for an ankle sprain or other injury.
Jordan also claimed without offering evidence that the allegations that he turned a blind eye to the abuse were linked to his aggressive questioning of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last month.
“I think the timing is suspect when you think about how this whole story came together after the Rosenstein hearing and the speaker’s race,” Jordan said last week.
President Trump has also backed Jordan, saying he believes his version “100 percent.”
Ginni Thomas is a longtime conservative political activist and former Heritage Foundation employee who once accused the Obama administration of “tyranny.”
Meanwhile, a former Obama administration official and the leader of a pro-Democrat group filed a complaint Monday with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Jordan — an avid supporter and favorite of Trump.
“This is a very serious matter that directly reflects on the integrity of the House of Representatives as an institution and on the credibility of its Members,” wrote Norm Eisen, President Barack Obama’s ethics czar, and Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit watchdog group, CNN reported.
“If it is determined that Rep. Jordan is lying to cover up his failure to protect student wrestlers under his supervision from sexual abuses, the House must hold Rep. Jordan accountable for his lies.”
The ethics office could make a referral to the GOP-controlled House Ethics Committee to formally take up the matter.
Jordan returned to DC Monday after Congress’ July 4th holiday break, and the House will reconvene Tuesday.
Jordan is a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and is considered a candidate to replace retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan.