Speaker Ryan is Wrong in Saying House Ethics Cmte Should Not Investigate Rep. Jordan’s Present Alleged Misconduct

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Speaker Ryan is Wrong in Saying House Ethics Committee Should Not Investigate Rep. Jordan’s Present Alleged Misconduct

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer and Norman Eisen, former chief White House ethics lawyer, 2009-2011

On July 9, 2018 we asked the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to undertake a preliminary ethics inquiry regarding statements Rep. Jim Jordan has made as a sitting Representative in recent days.

News stories in recent days have reported that eight former members of the Ohio State University wrestling team have stated that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a former assistant coach of the team, knew that Dr. Richard Strauss, the team doctor, was engaged in sexual abuse of team members while Jordan was the assistant coach of the team, and that Jordan failed to take any action on that knowledge.

We urged OCE to investigate whether Rep. Jordan is violating clause 1 of Rule XXIII by currently making false statements denying that he had any knowledge that members of the Ohio State University wrestling team under his care and supervision were being sexually abused by the team doctor, while Rep. Jordan was an assistant coach of the team.

We further requested that if OCE determines that there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Jordan is currently making false public statements about whether he had knowledge that students under his supervision were being abused, OCE should recommend that the House Ethics Committee further review this matter to determine whether Rep. Jordan is publicly lying about this matter in violation of clause 1 of Rule XXIII.

House Speaker Paul Ryan today dismissed the idea that the House Ethics Committee should investigate this matter, saying that “the panel isn’t supposed to investigate incidents from ‘a couple of decades ago when they weren’t in Congress.’”

House Speaker Ryan is wrong.

Our OCE request is about investigating alleged false statements that are currently being made by a sitting Member of Congress.

We have asked OCE to look at Rep. Jordan’s current alleged lies that he is using his congressional pulpit to tell. In short, our request for an investigation relates to whether Rep. Jordan is now lying about his past knowledge of the sexual abuse that allegedly occurred when he was a wrestling coach.

Whether or not the House Ethics Committee has jurisdiction to sanction behavior of a Member that occurred prior to the Member’s service in the House, the Committee does have jurisdiction to determine whether Members are currently engaged in conduct that fails to “reflect creditably” on the House in violation of clause 1 of Rule XXIII of the House Rules.

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Released: July 11, 2018