Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) became Speaker of the House of Representatives on January 7. 

But there was a fatal catch: Desperate to become Speaker, he had agreed to let even a single lawmaker force a vote on his removal. This was a concession to about 20 holdouts.

On October 3, eight Right-wingers led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) forced that vote.

Kevin McCarthy

A scramble for the Speakership followed.

At first, Steve Scalise (R-LA) seemed to have the required number of votes—217. 

But then he dropped out, admitting he couldn’t meet that requirement.

Next to jump into the ring: Jim Jordan (R-OH). 

Jordan founded the House Freedom Caucus, which seeks to impose a Fascistic agenda on America.

Which makes him unacceptable to Republicans who want a Speaker who can break the Republican-induced House logjam. On October 13, more than 50 Republicans voted against supporting him. 

Republicans’ failure to support a popular candidate has frozen the House while major international and domestic crises loom.

The most immediate: Israel’s war against Hamas, following the terrorist group’s horrific attacks that killed 1,300 Israelis on October 6.

Coming up: The November 17 shutdown of the federal government unless Congress agrees on a budget.

During and after Donald Trump’s Presidency, Jordan has defended his litany of demonstrated lies and documented criminality.

Appearing on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” on April 16, 2018, Jordan accused Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, of being a liar. He accused the Washington Post of lying. He asked Cooper if he had ever lied.

But, pressed by Cooper on whether he had ever heard Trump lie, Jordan replied: “I have not. I don’t know of it. Nothing comes to mind.”

Rep. Jim Jordan

Jordan pushed to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.

Prior to the 2020 Presidential election, Jordan repeatedly claimed that Democrats would steal it. After Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, Jordan falsely charged that they had stolen it. 

After the election, Jordan urged Trump not to concede, spread conspiracy theories, supported lawsuits attempting to disqualify the legitimate results and discussed plans to object to the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.

In a message to CNN, Ryan Goodman, the editor of Just Security and a law professor at New York University, wrote: “Jordan’s appearances on right-wing and far right-wing news outlets and his social media account were a near constant drumbeat of disinformation up until January 6th.”

“Jim Jordan was deeply involved in Donald Trump’s antidemocratic efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” said Thomas Joscelyn, one of the authors of the final report from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the United States Capitol.  

“Jordan also helped organize congressional opposition to counting Biden’s certified electoral votes. None of Jordan’s efforts were rooted in legitimate objections. He simply sought to keep Donald Trump in power, contrary to the will of the American people.” 

Even after the failed coup, 147 House and Senate Republicans voted to overturn the election. Jordan was one of them. 

And Trump reciprocated. In his speech to his treasonous supporters on January 6, 2021, Trump called Jordan one of the “great ones” for his efforts.

Stormtrumpers trying to overturn the 2020 Presidential election

Meanwhile, Jordan is being haunted by a scandal of his own. 

Jordan served as an assistant coach at Ohio State University (OSU) from 1987 to 1995. Several former OSU wrestlers claim Jordan ignored sexual abuse of students by the team’s doctor. 

In April, 2018, OSU announced it was investigating charges that Richard Strauss had abused team wrestlers while he served as the team doctor from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. Strauss died in 2005.

Jordan claims he didn’t know about the abuse.

Yet several former wrestlers assert that they told Jordan about the abuse or remember Jordan being a part of conversations about the abuse.

“I considered Jim Jordan a friend,” Mike DiSabato, a former wrestler, told NBC. It was DiSabato’s allegations against Strauss that led OSU to open the investigation. “But at the end of the day, he is absolutely lying if he says he doesn’t know what was going on.”

In an email to Ohio State’s legal counsel, DiSabato wrote: “Strauss sexually assaulted male athletes in at least fifteen varsity sports during his employment at OSU from 1978 through 1998.”

“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,” former Ultimate Fighting Championship world champion Mark Coleman told the Wall Street Journal about Jordan. “I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew as far as I’m concerned.” 

Speaking with reporters in Ohio, Jordan offered a Sergeant Schultz “I know nothing” defense: 

“We knew of no abuse, never heard of abuse. If we had, we would have reported it. 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.”

Thus, a President accused of multiple crimes finds himself defended by a man accused of ignoring the sexual abuse of young men.