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Rep. Jim Jordan's office to contact police after receiving emails from alleged sex assault victim

Rep. Jim Jordan's office to contact police after receiving emails from alleged sex assault victim
Posted at 10:31 AM, Jul 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-04 13:31:46-04

Rep. Jim Jordan's office will contact Capitol Hill police after receiving emails from an alleged victim of sexual abuse at Ohio State University when the Ohio congressman was an assistant wrestling coach, a source within the office told CNN Wednesday.

The source added that the messages were vaguely threatening in nature in part because of the amount of emails sent, and that Jordan did not respond to the emails because he felt the man was "bullying him."

An NBC News report published Tuesday alleged the powerful Ohio congressman was aware of allegations that a doctor was molesting members of the wrestling team when he was an assistant wrestling coach from 1986 to 1994, but that he ignored those claims of abuse.

CNN has not confirmed the details of the NBC report. Jordan and his office have previously denied that he knew of any such behavior.

The alleged victim, Mike DiSabato, had been sending emails for a few months, the source said.

Jordan didn't respond to the emails because he didn't want to encourage the behavior, the source said. Speaking to reporters at a Fourth of July celebration in Fremont, Ohio, on Wednesday, Jordan said he last spoke with DiSabato early this spring.

The source said that Jordan takes the allegations of sexual assault seriously, adding that DiSabato deserves justice if they are true, but said that does not give DiSabato the right to bully the congressman via email.

Jordan's office said it has still not found any communications from the investigators. The chief of staff reached out to investigators Tuesday to clarify whether there were any but have yet to hear back.

In Fremont, Jordan said he "never knew of any abuse from Dr. Strauss, plain and simple."

"We knew of no abuse, never heard of abuse. If we had, we would have reported it," Jordan said. "If, in fact, there's problems, we want justice for the people who were victims, obviously, and as I said, we are happy to talk with the folks who are doing the investigation. But the things they said about me just were flat-out not true."

The-CNN-Wire
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