Summary:

Republican congressman Jim Jordan is forcefully denying allegations that he knew Ohio State University wrestlers he coached two decades ago were being sexually abused by the team doctor.

Rep. Jordan was assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1986 to 1994.

Ohio State University is investigating allegations that former team doctor Dr. Richard Strauss, who committed suicide in 2005, sexually abused team members. The allegations range from inappropriate touching to sexual assault.

Former wrestlers say then-assistant coach Jim Jordan had to have known about the doctor's abuse 'because it was all over the locker room'.

The Daily Mail reports:

'I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it,' [Jordan] told Politico on Tuesday.

But his denials have been met with skepticism and anger from two former members of the team, NBC News reported.

Former wrestler Mike DiSabato has said that Jordan is 'absolutely lying' when he says he did not know about the allegations.

DiSabato and Dunyasha Yetts both claim that Jordan - the founder of the House Freedom Caucus - was complicit in the abuse that the university is currently probing.

In April, Ohio State University announced it was investigating accusations that Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, abused team members when he was their doctor from the mid-1970s to late 1990s.

'Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,' his spokesperson Ian Fury said in a statement.

Jordan, 51, is conservative firebrand who came to Capitol Hill in 2007 and quickly rose in the ranks of power. He has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Speaker Paul Ryan and is a close ally of President Donald Trump.

Three former wrestlers told NBC News that it was common knowledge that Dr. Strauss showered regularly with the students and inappropriately touched them during appointments.

They claim it would have been impossible for Jordan to be unaware.

One wrestler said he told Jordan directly about the abuse.

DiSabato, whose allegations against Strauss prompted the university to investigate, called Jordan a liar outright.

DiSabato said he reached out to Jordan, before going to the university, to tell the congressman that he planned to go public with his allegations.

Jordan told him to 'please leave me out of it,' DiSabato claimed. 'He asked me not to get him involved.'

Another wrestler told NBC that he, too, had told Jordan what happened.

Dunyasha Yetts, who wrestled at Ohio State in 1993 and 1994, said he and others told Jordan about Strauss.

'I remember I had a thumb injury and went into Strauss' office and he started pulling down my wrestling shorts,' he told the news network. 'I'm like, what the f--- are you doing? And I went out and told Russ and Jim what happened. I was not having it. They went in and talked to Strauss.'

Yetts said he and his teammates talked to Jordan numerous times about their interactions with the doctor.

[Jordan said] said that 'no one reported any type of abuse' to him.

Jordan was a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion during his time at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. He was a four-time state wrestling champion. In the 1985 NCAA championship match, Jordan defeated future two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion John Smith.