Ex-GOP Rep. Jack Kingston Defends Jim Jordan Amid Ohio State Scandal: ‘He’s a Man of Integrity’

Former Republican Congressman Jack Kingston came to the defense of former colleague Jim Jordan over the allegations he knew of sexual abuse when he was a coach at Ohio State University.

Jordan last night denied being aware of any abuse, saying, “Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than people coming up and talking about abuse. No one ever reported any abuse to me. If they had, I would have dealt with it.”

On CNN today, Kingston said, “I know Jim very well. He’s a man of integrity. He’s a man of honesty. And I also know that he took on the Speaker of the House from his own home state, and somebody who’s willing to take on somebody like that is not afraid to take on anybody.”

He questioned the credibility of some of the people speaking out, including Mike diSabato (as Jordan did last night) and said the Jim Jordan he knows “would not hesitate to turn something in that was going wrong.”

“I just know Jim Jordan to be a straight arrow,” he emphasized. “He would not put up with any shenanigans in the locker room… There were 9 wrestling coaches, but he seems to be the one that they’re aiming at. Why is that?”

Jordan himself questioned the timing of the allegations coming out, as well as fellow Republican congressman Matt Gaetz last night:

How is Jim Jordan supposed to prove that he didn’t know something 28 years ago? Could any of us? This is a deliberate attempt to knock the best oversight member of Congress off his game the week Strzok is scheduled to testify.

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) July 6, 2018

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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