President Donald Trump has accepted Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s claims that he knew nothing about accusations of sexual abuse of college wrestlers, when he was a coach at Ohio State University.
In June, several former wrestlers accused Jordan of ignoring reports of abuse allegations when he was the school’s wrestling coach between 1987 and 1995. The Ohio Republican, though, has denied any charges that he knew of the allegations saying if he did, “I would have done something about it.”
Now, President Trump is standing by Jordan and is saying he believes that the powerful congressman had no knowledge of the abuse allegations back in the 1990s.
“I don’t believe them at all,” Trump told reporters on June 5. “I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent. No question in my mind. I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man.”
The president made his comment on Air Force One on his way to a Montana rally on Thursday, according to Yahoo Sports.
The controversy over the accusation that Jordan must have known about the sexual abuse appears to be a campaign spearheaded by Democrat opposition research group Perkins Coie. According to The Washington Post the Democrat-connected group has been peppering Jordan with questions on the decades-old accusations.
The Seattle-based, Clinton-connected Perkins Coie is the same law firm that helped create the fake “Trump Dossier” that became the basis for the years-long “investigation” into Donald Trump’s purported connection to “Russia collusion.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.