Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who has confirmed a run for Home speaker, is a distinguished movie star on the far proper of US politics – and a magnet for controversy who a former speaker from his personal celebration as soon as referred to as a “political terrorist”.
The total extent of Jordan’s involvement in Donald Trump’s try and overturn the 2020 election, main as much as the lethal assault on Congress, stays unknown.
Jordan, 59, can also be dogged by questions on a sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State College, the place he was a wrestling coach earlier than he entered politics.
John Boehner, the previous speaker, additionally from Ohio, famously referred to Jordan as a “political terrorist”, solely involved in harmful motion reasonably than legislative achievement.
Within the final Congress, when Democrats managed the gavel, Jordan refused to cooperate with the Home January 6 committee, regardless of being served with a subpoena.
His involvement in Trump’s machinations has been broadly reported. He’s recognized, as an illustration, to have spoken with the then president on the morning of the riot.
Of their ebook I Alone Can Repair It: Donald J Trump’s Catastrophic Last Yr, the Washington Put up reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig reported a startling dialog from the day after the riot, 7 January 2021.
In response to Rucker and Leonnig, Liz Cheney, then a Wyoming Republican congresswoman, and future vice-chair of the January 6 committee, spoke to Gen Mark Milley, then chair of the joint chiefs of employees.
“That fucking man Jim Jordan,” Cheney stated. “That son of a bitch. Whereas these maniacs are going via the place, I’m standing within the aisle and he stated, ‘We have to get the women away from the aisle. Let me show you how to.’
“I smacked his hand away and advised him, ‘Get away from me. You fucking did this.’”
Jordan was a distinguished supporter of Trump’s lie about electoral fraud. Efforts on Trump’s behalf included talking at a “Cease the Steal” rally in Pennsylvania two days after election day; attending White Home conferences at which technique was mentioned; showing on Fox Information to advertise such efforts; and, on the morning of January 6 itself, talking within the Home, to object to outcomes from Arizona.
5 days after the Capitol assault, Trump gave Jordan the presidential medal of freedom.
The Ohio State sexual abuse scandal additionally rumbles on.
From 1987 to 1995, Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at OSU. Former athletes have stated he turned a blind eye to abuse perpetrated by Richard Strauss, a physician, which, in keeping with an official report, was broadly seen as an “open secret”.
One ex-OSU wrestler, Dunyasha Yetts, has stated: “If Jordan says he didn’t learn about it then he’s mendacity.”
Jordan denies a cover-up. He additionally refused to co-operate with the official investigation.
Turning into speaker would cap a congressional profession that started in 2006 and has included main the highly effective judiciary committee and being the primary chair of the hard-right Home Freedom Caucus.
In 2021, Boehner advised CBS: “I simply by no means noticed a man who spent extra time tearing issues aside – by no means constructing something, by no means placing something collectively.”
For Jordan, turning into speaker would additionally invite uncomfortable mentions of Dennis Hastert.
Hastert, from Illinois, is the longest-serving Republican speaker, having stuffed the function from 1999 to 2007.
After leaving politics, nevertheless, he grew to become embroiled in scandal, finally admitting to sexually abusing teenaged boys whereas a wrestling coach himself, then paying his accusers to remain quiet. He was sentenced to fifteen months in jail.
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