- Have you ever heard the President lie?
- I have not.
- Really?
- [Sean] That's Jim Jordan.
President Trump's animated anti-impeachment darling
who likes to frequently brag
about all his cool accomplishments.
- Washed-up, jock, politician lawyer
is not much to brag about.
- [Sean] I'm comedian Sean Patton
and this is the story of Jim Jordan.
James Daniel Jordan was born in 1964
about 50 miles west of Columbus,
deep in the Democratic stronghold of
Champagne County, Ohio.
In high school, Jordan was a four-time
state champion wrestler.
He continued tapping people out
at the University of Wisconson,
where he won two NCAA Division 1 wrestling titles
in the lightweight class.
- Actually, I'm not a lawyer.
I have a law degree, never did take the Bar Exam.
- [Sean] In 1987, Jordan became an assistant wrestling
coach at Ohio State University,
where he'd work until 1995.
About 200 of the school's alums are suing
the university alleging sports doctor Richard Strauss
sexually abused them.
Nine of Jim Jordan's former wrestlers came forward
to say that Jordan knew of the sexual abuse
and did nothing to stop it.
The stories, which are hard to listen to,
paint a picture of Jordan's complicity during this time.
In just one instance, a referee reported an incident
to Jordan in 1994, in which
Strauss masturbated in front of him,
in the shower after a match.
In response, Jordan at the time, reportedly said,
"Yeah, that's Strauss."
In a separate event, when one of Jordan's wrestlers
notified him that the doctor touched him inappropriately,
Jordan reportedly snickered and said,
"I have nothing to do with this,"
before walking away.
A former wrestler under Jordan turned UFC star,
Mark Coleman, backed up the accounts of complicity.
- The Wall Street Journal talked to the former
UFC World Champion, Mark Coleman, who says he has an
affinity for you, he likes you a lot.
But he says, quote,
"There's no way, unless he's got dementia
"or something, that he's got no recollection
"of what was going on at Ohio State.
"I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man,
"but he knew as far as I'm concerned."
- [Sean] Jordan denies that anyone ever reported
allegations of sexual abuse to him.
- If there had been any reports of abuse,
I would have reported it.
- [Sean] A similar series of unfortunate events
went down at Penn State when Joe Paterno,
the football team's head coach, was fired
for turning a blind eye to accusations of rape
and child sex abuse by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Apparently, NCAA football has a higher standard
than the American government.
The more you know.
Jordan went on to earn a master's degree in education
and later, a J.D.
from Capital University Law School in 2001.
He never passed the Bar Exam.
It's unclear if Jordan, who always seems to
think it's casual Friday, knows he can still
wear a suit jacket because of that.
While Jordan was seemingly not listening to
allegations of sexual abuse in collegiate sports,
he was simultaneously jumping into the world of politics
where complicity and enablism is apparently rewarded.
In 1994, Jordan was elected
to the Ohio General Assembly
serving three terms as a state representative.
In 2006, Jordan was elected to Congress
where he's been yelling during hearings ever since.
- You can't say, I'm apologizing for statements
in one video,
and then not tell us what those statements were.
- [Sean] In 2011, Jordan withdrew from a speaking engagement
and boycotted the Conservative Political Action Conference
because a gay conservative group was allowed to attend.
The same year, Jordan tried to overturn
same-sex marriage in D.C.
In 2016, he invited Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk
who was jailed for not registering same-sex
couples to the State of the Union.
Jordan also voted no on protecting
gay people from hate crimes.
- Marriage should be what it's always been.
I've never changed on that and never will.
- [Sean] During the 2018 mid-term elections,
Jordan announced his bid for House Speaker
after Paul Ryan resigned.
Unfortunately, Jordan lost doubly.
The Democrats won house majority
and he was defeated by Kevin McCarthy,
who became the minority leader.
According to a Trump University co-founder,
McCarthy is not tough or smart.
It's unclear what that means for Jordan.
- You know Kevin McCarthy is out, you know that, right?
(crowd cheers)
And they're giving me a lot of credit for that
because I said, "You really need somebody
"very, very tough and very smart."
You know, smart goes with tough, not just tough.
- [Sean] But losing to an allegedly very, very weak
and very dumb person, didn't keep Jordan
out of the limelight.
He used up most of his time consistently
going to bat for Trump Vodka pitchman
Donald J. Trump.
- Have you heard the president apologize
and correct something?
- I don't know that he said something wrong
that he needs to apologize for.
I just, nothing comes to mind right now.
- [Sean] And because Jordan's been such
a staunch supporter of someone capable
of a perfect phone call
with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,
he was moved to the Intel Committee
for the impeachment hearings
where he's been the loudest defender of the man
with perfect phone call capabilities.
- This is what I can't believe
and you're their star witness.
You're their first witness.
- [Sean] Jordan wants the identity of the whistleblower,
who came forward with information that Trump
suspended military aid to Ukraine, and asked
president Zelensky to do us a favor
and investigate the Bidens, to be made public.
But thankfully for laws, the ex-wrestler has
finally found something that he can't quite pin down.
And it's driving him mad.
- One witness, that they won't bring in front of us,
they won't bring in front of the American people,
and that's the guy who started it all, the whistleblower.
- Thank you, I say to my colleague, I'd be glad to
have the person who started it all come in and testify.
President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there.
(laughing)
- [Sean] While Jordan believes there was absolutely
no quid pro quo,
Trump's handpicked ambassador says otherwise.
The U.S. ambassador to the E.U.,
and Trump mega-donor, Gordon Sondland,
testified during the House impeachment inquiry
that he was following Trump's orders
when he pressured Ukraine to investigate the Bidens
and that many in the administration knew about it.
Sondland has said this was a clear quid pro quo.
- Was there a quid pro quo?
As I testified previously, with regard
to the requested White House call
and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.
- [Sean] Jordan must have misunderstood
Sondland's testimony, because following it
he said this.
- I thought this morning with Ambassador Sondland
we got the right kind of information that there was
never any type of quid pro quo.
- [Sean] While Jordan could be lying for Trump,
it's also possible that he's just not listening.
Which is something he made a career out of
at Ohio State University.
Sticking your neck out for a president
who 70% of American say was wrong to request
a foreign leader to investigate his biggest
political rival, is an extremely risky
endeavor for Jordan to partake in.
His future in politics will be made or broken
by his unwavering support for the man
in the Oval Office.
Uh, I mean Mar-a-Lago.
But considering Jordan's history of turning a blind eye
to atrocious and possibly criminal behavior,
he decidedly won't be wrestling with his own
poor leadership for years to come.
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