The Dictatorship

HBO documentary recounts a shocking scandal Rep. Jim Jordan says he knew nothing about

Published

12 months ago

June 27, 2025

HBO documentary recounts a shocking scandal Rep. Jim Jordan says he knew nothing about

Before Ohio Republican Jim Jordan became a polarizing political figure in Congress as a pugilistic performance artist and slavish follower of President Donald Trump, he was a four-time state wrestling champ and two-time NCAA national wrestling champ who, in 1986, brought his talents to Ohio State University as an assistant wrestling coach. The 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds Jordan coached through grueling practices and brutal matches respected his knowledge and skill, and as they put it all on the mat for Buckeye glory, they trusted Jordan to be there for them. On the sidelines. In their face. Through pins and takedowns. Injuries and infractions.

The 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds Jordan coached respected his knowledge and skill, and they trusted Jordan to be there for them.

But multiple OSU wrestlers say in the new HBO documentary “Surviving Ohio State” that when they were subjected to serial sexual assaults by the team doctor, Dr. Richard Strauss, Jordan wasn’t there for them. According to an independent investigation published in 2018, Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005, “sexually abused at least 177 male student-patients” at OSU over a 20-year period, including at least 48 men on the wrestling team. And several of Jordan’s wrestlers during his eight-year coaching stint at OSU have included themselves in that number.

Multiple wrestlers say Jordan (who coached at OSU from 1986 to 1994) knew Strauss (who voluntarily retired in 1998) was abusing them and did nothing. Dan Ritchie, who wrestled for Jordan from 1988 to 1992, alleges in the documentary that the assistant coach directly addressed his athletes about the allegations against Strauss with this crack: “If he ever did that to me, I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”

In total, six wrestlers have said that they had conversations with Jordan about Strauss’ increasingly abusive groping, fondling, trauma-inducing exams and that he acknowledged their complaints. But in the same way he avoided being pinned down as a wrestler, he has avoided being pinned down by reports from wrestlers who say he didn’t protect him and that they weren’t able to count on him for help.

This isn’t a new scandal. When it broke in 2018, Jordan immediately disavowed knowing of anything untoward about the notorious team doctor and was adamant that if he had known about any type of abuse, “I would have done something about it.” And, after having suffered no obvious political consequences over the last seven years because of the explosive OSU story, he responded to the HBO documentary in essentially the same way as before: “Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it,” his office said in a statement.

In 2023, as Jordan was vying to become House speaker, a former wrestler known only as John Doe, told NBC News, “My problem with Jimmy is that he has been playing with words instead of supporting us.” That former athlete said, “None of us used the words ‘sexual abuse’ when we talked about what Doc Strauss was doing to us, we just knew it was weird and Jimmy knew about it because we talked about it all the time in the locker room, at practices, everywhere.”

Chairman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it.

A statement from rep. jim jordan’s office

University personnel, along with multiple coaches, were aware of the abuse as early as 1979, according to an independent investigation commissioned by Ohio State. What Strauss was doing, multiple students told those investigators, was an “open secret” on campus that seemingly everyone shrugged off. That report found that 22 coaches, 18 student trainers and “five team physicians and/or Sports Medicine Fellows whose employment at OSU overlapped with Strauss” told investigators “they were aware of rumors or complaints about Strauss” going at least back as far as the early 1980s and extending at least into the mid-1990s. But no individuals were named in that report.

As the documentary “Surviving Ohio State” neared release this month, a spokesperson for the university gave a statement to WOSU public radio that WOSU said “expressed deep regret and apologies for Strauss’ actions” but emphasized how long ago the doctor’s abuse occurred. That spokesperson, Ben Johnson, said the university is “fundamentally different today than when Strauss was an employee” and added, “Over the past 25 years, Ohio State has made robust changes to its culture and policies to protect students, faculty and staff.”

In the HBO documentary, former wrestlers at OSU recall the excitement of being awarded full athletic scholarships to a legendary sports institution as naive youths at the top of their game. They are in middle age now and forever scarred by what Strauss did to them and others behind closed doors. The team doctor’s pattern of sexual abuse — from inappropriate genital exams to locker room voyeurism and rape — was bad enough. What made it worse for many who came forward was the cold indifference of the people they say they told.

You expect a coach to have your back. A good one cultivates trust with his athletes not only as someone who knows how to win but also as a teacher of discipline, a model of even-handedness, a confidant of players under pressure, a protector on the field and off.

When the OSU scandal became front page news, not only did Jordan deny knowing anything, but one of his former wrestlers said Jordan reached out to him and pressured him to discount his brother’s story that Jordan knew and did nothing about his abuse. That person also said Jordan had called and pressured other wrestlers to “flip their stories.” It was 2018, and Jordan, a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, had just launched bid to replace then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, and the scandal threatened to end his political career.

The scandal didn’t end Jordan’s political career. He has won three consecutive elections since.

“Another lie,” Jordan’s communications director told The Washington Post. “Congressman Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it.”

The scandal didn’t end Jordan’s political career. He has won three consecutive elections since — by his customary 2-to-1 ratio — in one of the most egregiously gerrymandered districts in Ohio. Jordan, who has never in his more than 18 years in Congress sponsored a bill that became a law, has ironclad job security in this red state. He also benefits from the fanaticism surrounding Buckeye Nation among Ohioans who bleed scarlet and gray and would rather not dwell on anything that detracts from the cultlike lore of OSU as a Midwest-proud powerhouse.

He skated from the OSU scandal without a scratch or a smoking gun that proves he knew of the sexual abuse that OSU’s independent investigation said was ongoing the whole time he was there. If some of Strauss’ wrestling victims are to be believed, Jordan could have stopped the harm being inflicted upon them.

But Jordan appears not to be the least bit worried about political repercussions for his reported cowardice.

Why should he? To this point, there haven’t been any.

Marila Johanek

Marilou Johanek is a veteran Ohio print and broadcast journalist who has covered state and national politics in addition to early writing and producing stints at CBS News and BLN. The Ohio native has also analyzed policymaking and political players as a longtime newspaper editorial writer and columnist. She is currently a weekly columnist for the Ohio Capital Journal, which is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

The Dictatorship

National Guard and Park Police patrol as coating peels…

Published

11 minutes ago

June 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

National Guard and Park Police patrol as coating peels…

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Guard members and U.S. Park Police patrolled the deck around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday as President Donald Trump’s administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix a botched renovation before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The patrols came two days after Trump said authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he insisted were responsible for damage to the peeling coating after an algae bloom occurred. The liner was installed as part of his $14 million-plus project.

The president has confirmed the problems most likely require draining the pool again for liner repairs and he promised a quick fix. Without offering substantiation, he also said vandals dumped fertilizer in the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.

But the timeline was not clear Monday, with the White House saying damaged areas are still being assessed. Contractors and federal workers in recent days have been using chemicals and ozone nanobubbles to combat the algae.

Trump pitched the original improvements as intended to clean, beautify and reinforce an iconic site that he said had become dilapidated and dirty because of previous presidents’ neglect. Algae has plagued the pool for a century, and Trump insisted that a newly installed “American flag blue” coating, which he selected himself, would turn the pool into a gleaming expanse along the National Mall.

Yet within weeks of Trump declaring the rehabilitation completed in time for Independence Day, the water was plagued by a vivid green algae bloom that clouded the pool’s coating. A piece of liner, about 4 square feet, was observed Friday partially floating in the pool. The Associated Press saw additional pieces in the water Monday.

Via social media, the president has blamed the problems on “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE!” He asserted Monday on Truth Social that intentional damages include a “300 foot long gash” and that “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.” A day earlier, Trump posted, “Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool.”

At an executive order signing on Monday, the president said five people had been arrested and five more were under suspicion, and he deflected blame for the pool’s maintenance issues: “I can’t help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up.” He has not backed up those claims, and even if anyone has deliberately peeled or cut the lining, that would not explain the algae bloom that appeared more intensely than what typically occurred before the renovation.

Images showing that Trump’s project apparently backfired boomeranged across social media last week, drawing crowds of onlookers eager to see the effects themselves. An unknown number ended up being detained by federal authorities.

One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland. A former Olympic canoe racer, Hearn told The Associated Press that he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating. He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to. Hearn said he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night.

“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said in a telephone interview. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

The Park Police did not immediately respond Monday to AP’s questions about how many arrests were made and whether any charges had been filed. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department said Monday that the agency is not involved.

The White House said Monday that any arrests have been made only by the U.S. Park Police.

It was not immediately apparent what criminal or civil violation someone might commit reaching into the pool. Trump, in one of his Truth Social posts, cited laws against defacing monuments as grounds for imprisoning anyone harming the pool.

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Katie Vogel contributed reporting from Washington.

The Dictatorship

8 convicted in Texas immigration center shooting sentenced to decades in prison

Published

18 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

8 convicted in Texas immigration center shooting sentenced to decades in prison

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Eight protesters accused by the Justice Department of having ties to antifawere sentenced Tuesday to decades in federal prison over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center that wounded a police officer. Prosecutors have called the shooting an act of terrorism.

One of the defendants, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist convicted of opening fire during the July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, the maximum punishment.

The lengthy sentences were condemned by family members and supporters in a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. Hope Song, whose son Benjamin Songreceived the heftiest sentence, disputed prosecutors’ claims that her son shot the officer and said he didn’t intend to hurt anyone.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the proceedings, said what happened wasn’t a protest but “an assault on democracy.”

“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.

The seven other protesters received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.

Prosecutors said the eight are members of antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization and a targetof the Trump administration. Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.

The defendants deny any affiliation with antifa and maintain they attended the demonstration in support of detained immigrants.

Prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to impose stiff penalties.

“People with that kind of extremist beliefs need extra time in prison,” Gatto said. “They believe violence is justified.”

Phillip Hayes, Song’s attorney, said outside the courthouse that he takes issue with the idea that the protesters are extremists.

“This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Hayes said. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”

Prosecutors said in court that Song had yelled “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.

Hayes argued that Song’s shots were “suppressive fire” and that a ricochet bullet hit the officer after he arrived on the scene and “aggressively” pulled out his firearm. He said his client will appeal the 100-year sentence.

“Song, aside from this day, has had an impeccable life. A former Marine. A good student,” Hayes said. “He had a lot of good qualities that were just ignored. The judge went ahead and gave as much as he could.”

Other defendants and their family members pleaded for leniency in court.

Autumn Hill said the gathering “seemed more like a party to me than anything else” and that she and others who participated “didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.”

Amber Lowrey told the judge that her sister, Savanna Batten, is a compassionate person with dreams of opening a bakery. She said Batten’s activism started with animal rights and evolved into anti-war and human rights advocacy.

“She’s the best person I know,” Lowrey said.

Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.

Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.

Critics warn the case could have a wide-reaching impact on protests given that organizations operating within the U.S. are supposed to be protected by First Amendment free-speech rights.

Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 peoplewith impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdownin Minnesota. They claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.

The Dictatorship

Tulsi Gabbard and Senate GOP face difficult new questions over influence of her ‘guru’

Published

18 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Tulsi Gabbard and Senate GOP face difficult new questions over influence of her ‘guru’

About a month into Donald Trump’s second term, Senate Republicans weighed whether to confirm one of the president’s worst nominees. Indeed, the list of reasons to reject Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for director of national intelligence was not short.

The former congresswoman lacked the requisite experience in intelligence matters. She had an indefensible habit of echoing Russian propaganda. She struggled to explain her record of defending Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime. Senators heard from former national security officials who issued unsubtle warnings about elevating Gabbard to an important and influential position.

But in case that weren’t quite enough, let’s also not overlook the fact that Gabbard was a member of a secretive Hare Krishna offshoot religious sect that is considered by many of its former members to be an abusive cult.

Gabbard, who wrapped up her tenure as DNI last week, has long insisted that any suggestion that she was somehow enthralled to or controlled by this sect or its leader, whom she has referred to as her “guru,” is just bigotry against her faith.

But it’s against this backdrop that The Washington Post obtained hundreds of secret memos prepared for Gabbard during her congressional tenure, which were put together by members of the alleged cult and which included thousands of pages of specific directives to her on policy and politics.

After careful analysis of thousands of these documents, which have not been independently verified by MS NOW, the Post determined that they likely came from Gabbard’s secretive guru, a man named Chris Butler.

The memos, starting in 2013, when the Hawaiian first arrived on Capitol Hill, reflect a dynamic in which Gabbard didn’t just take direction from the materials, but essentially took dictation from the alleged cult leader: Memos told Gabbard what she should do as a member of Congress, and she often did exactly that, sometimes word for word.

The Post’s Jon Swaine spent months trying to get Gabbard to respond to questions, but to no avail. Her spokeswoman reportedly encouraged Swaine to drop the story, saying, “I cannot imagine WaPo’s readers would be interested in yet another uncredible, bigoted attack on the DNI’s faith.”

On May 20, Swaine nevertheless alerted the DNI and top members of her staff to the fact that the Post was prepared to publish his reporting anyway on her association with Butler.

On May 22, Fox News reported that Gabbard was leaving the administration, ostensibly because of a health issue involving her husband.

This week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke on the Senate floor and commented on the reporting:

There are reports that Tulsi Gabbard was receiving instructions from a so-called guru and repeating them word for word. That ought to concern all of us if it’s true. No one knows who this guru really is, what his connections are, and where the instructions came from. … We need answers.

The New York Democrat’s comments made sense, though it’s worth considering who, exactly, “we need answers” from.

It stands to reason, for example, that Gabbard has some explaining to do, but I’m also interested in the answers from those who elevated her to an influential intelligence office in the first place.

In February 2025, confronted with an avalanche of reasons to reject Gabbard’s nomination, 52 Senate Republicans — every GOP member except Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell — shrugged off every red flag and voted to confirm her as the nation’s DNI, including so-called “moderates” such as Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski.

The question for these 52 senators seems obvious: Do you regret that confirmation vote and now recognize it as a mistake? Or do you still think it was a good idea to put Gabbard in this influential intelligence position?

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”