Report: Tim Ryan Fundraised with Attorney that Fought to Minimize Payouts for Nassar’s Victims

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who is running for Senate this year, left the Buckeye State for a round of fundraisers with Hollywood millionaires, which reportedly included one with an attorney who worked to minimize financial damages against sexual abuse victims.

One of the fundraisers Ryan attended to raise money for an election he is in thousands of miles away was with high-powered Los Angeles-based litigator Mitchell Kamin, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Kamin once represented the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the report noted. In 202o, the committee tried to avoid paying damages to the victims of Larry Nassar, the former U.S. women’s national gymnastics team doctor convicted of systematically sexually abusing women and girls in 2017.

Eventually, the victims of Nassar sued the committee for failing to notify authorities after knowing about the doctor’s conflicts. Court documents showed that the committee officials had been aware of the sexual abuse allegations against Nassar for years. Still, they ultimately did nothing prior to the victims speaking out.

The Free Beacon detailed what happened with Nassar:

Nassar’s victims sued the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for knowing about Nassar’s conduct but failing to notify authorities. Senior U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials were aware of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar for a year before his victims spoke out publicly, court documents show, but declined to remove him from the organization.

In court arguments made by Kamin, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee had no legal responsibility to disclose this fact to authorities. That would mean the organization doesn’t have to pay a single cent to Nassar’s victims, who include girls as young as 15 years old. Despite the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s knowledge of Nassar’s abuse, Nassar continued treating young athletes at Michigan State for a year.

“The reason why these cases exist in the first place is because these institutions—including the [U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee]—operated under a veil of secrecy and lack transparency that allowed sexual assault to fester,” the victims’ attorneys said in a statement during litigation. “It seems that the [U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee] has learned nothing, hopes to change nothing, and seeks a free pass from the court in return for multiple press releases containing platitudes yet no substantive change.”

Democrats have had trouble with holding fundraisers with wealthy attorneys who have represented controversial clients, as the Free Beacon noted, like when failed 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg had to cancel an event in 2019 with one who fought for authorities not to release videos of police killing an underage black man.

Interestingly enough, while Ryan was in California fundraising for his campaign, he told the Clerk of the House that he needed to vote by proxy due to the “ongoing public health emergency,” even though he is clearly not worried about the Chinese coronavirus. Similarly, Iowa’s Cindy Axne (D-IA) just received an ethics complaint for claiming the same thing in her letter while she admitted to being on a “planned” vacation.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.