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Hundreds of leaders and volunteers within Southern Baptist churches across the nation have been accused of sexual misconduct against young churchgoers for decades - many of them quietly returning to church roles even after being convicted for sex crimes. A bombshell investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News found that over the last 20 years, about 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced credible accusations of sexual misconduct. Of those, roughly 220 were convicted of sex crimes or received plea deals, in cases involving more than 700 victims in all, the report found. Many accusers were...

•President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will testify at the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7, he said. •Cohen is due to begin a three-year prison term in March for a range of crimes that include ones related to Trump. •Cohen admitted facilitating payments to two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, in exchange for their silence about alleged affairs with Trump. He also admitted lying to Congress about the extent of Trump's involvement in an aborted plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

The rapidly unfolding crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is not a matter of concern to Catholics alone. Its true dimensions have yet to be measured, but we think it will prove to be a crisis on the scale of the Protestant Reformation, which began just over 500 years ago — an earthquake of 9.5 on the Richter scale. If so, resolution of the crisis will take decades to work through.Resolution and absolution will require serious effort, and most likely require deep, structural reforms. Even if we are mistaken, the Catholic crisis is of such a magnitude that Christians...

VATICAN CITY—In his first public statement on the horrifying, devastating report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis stated he would address the controversy in detail once he’s done talking about climate change for a few more weeks. The head of the Roman Catholic Church claimed he is deeply concerned with the tragic report, but is “just too swamped” with work fighting climate change, criticizing capitalism, and advocating for other issues of social justice to talk about the repulsive report at the moment. “Rest assured, once I have exhausted my talking points on the need for government policies...

A former Ohio State University wrestler is recanting his claims that Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan knew of sexual abuse allegations against a university physician when he coached wrestling at the school over 20 years ago.“At no time did I ever say or have any direct knowledge that Jim Jordan knew of Dr. Richard Strauss’s inappropriate behavior,” Mark Coleman, a former MMA fighter who wrestled at Ohio State when Jordan coached there, said in a statement.“I have nothing but respect for Jim Jordan as I have known him for more than 30 years and know him to be of impeccable...

CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is accused of sexual misconduct by six women in a New Yorker exposé published Friday, the latest high-profile media figure at the center of allegations of misconduct as a result of the "Me Too" movement. Six women who previously worked with Moonves told The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow that Moonves sexually harassed them, while four described forcible touching or kissing. “What happened to me was a sexual assault, and then I was fired for not participating,” Emmy-nominated actress and writer Illeana Douglas told the publication. “There was the big sell—he was telling me, ‘You’re...

The CBS CEO, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, is accused of unwanted kissing and touching in a New Yorker article set to be published Friday. The New Yorker is poised to publish an article by Ronan Farrow that includes allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of embattled CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. A spokesperson for The New Yorker says, “We don't comment on pieces we haven't published." Sources with knowledge of the article say it delves into the broader culture at CBS and will publish later today on the magazine’s...

Why is it that none of the former Ohio State University wrestlers are claiming to have told Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, they were “sexually abused,” but the media keep saying they did? And it’s striking how “sexual abuse” is a phrase only used by news reports describing what happened at the school, while none of the school’s former wrestlers who were coached by Jordan are quoted recalling it that way at the time. Rather than horrific accounts of being physically violated, most of the ex-wrestlers actually describe remembering their experience with the creepy Dr. Richard Strauss as something more like...

Fresh off the seeming success of the smear campaign against Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), a liberal feminist group is attempting to connect Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the sexual harassment of his former boss.

Fourteen former Ohio State University wrestlers have gone on the record to refute claims that Rep. Jim Jordan ignored allegations of sexual abuse while serving as an assistant coach more than two decades ago, according to a group set up to provide a public defense for the Ohio Republican. The wrestlers are listed in a press release sent out by the group “Stand with Jim Jordan.” The press release lists statements from 14 members of the team and a 15th person who spoke anonymously. Some of the statements have been given to the media, and the group aggregates the results,...

Six former Ohio State University wrestling coaches on Monday issued statements defending Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is being accused of failing to protect his former wrestlers from sexual abuse by a team doctor while working as a coach there. “What has been said about Jim Jordan is absolutely wrong,” the half-dozen coaches said in a joint statement. “We all worked on the wrestling coaching staff during Jim’s tenure at The Ohio State University. None of us saw or heard of abuse of OSU wrestlers. The well-being of student-athletes was all of our concern. If we had heard of any...

When I read the actual stories under those headlines, my reaction turned from dread to outrage. Jim Jordan isn’t being accused; he’s being railroaded. (snip) -- Like many Americans, when I saw last week’s headlines about my friend, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), I couldn’t believe them. The accusations did not describe the man of character and courage I’ve known for more than a decade. When I read the actual stories under those headlines, my reaction turned from dread to outrage. Jordan isn’t being accused; he’s being railroaded. Jordan, as you may know, was a two-time NCAA Division I national...

Embattled Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and his allies went on offense Monday as a half dozen former wrestling coaches rallied behind their former Ohio State coaching colleague and insisted he did not know about a team doctor sexually assaulting student athletes decades ago. In a phone interview on Monday, former Ohio State University head wrestling coach Russ Hellickson vehemently denied that he or Jordan had ever seen or been told that Dr. Richard Strauss was molesting or sexually assaulting OSU wrestlers during the 1980s and 90s. “I am frankly pissed off at what they are doing to Jim Jordan. This...

Even before the attempt to smear conservative superstar Rep. Jim Jordan with accusations of covering up sexual abuse on the Ohio State University wrestling team began to fall apart, the President and a host of conservative leaders have stepped up to defend the Freedom Caucus leader, with Trump speaking up for Jordan in an interview aboard Air Force One. “Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent. No question in my mind.” President Donald J. Trump “I don’t believe them at all,” Trump said. Rep. Matt Gaetz...

An Ohio State wrestler is calling Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) a “phony” in an interview with CNN for saying he was not aware of allegations of inappropriate touching and sexual abuse by a former doctor on the wrestling team. The person who spoke to CNN requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the allegations and out of concern for his family’s well-being. CNN says he is the fifth wrestler from the program to allege that Jordan knew of the actions of Richard Strauss, the former team doctor who killed himself in 2005. "Jordan is denying this because obviously it would...

Jordan said the timing of the allegations is suspect, since they come immediate after a contentious hearing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and also during the ongoing discussion that the congressman may run for speaker of the House. He said the law firm representing some of the accusers, Perkins Coie, is the same firm that was involved with the Trump-Russia dossier.

Two former Ohio State University wrestlers are accusing Rep. Jim Jordan of ignoring sexual misconduct by a university physician more than two decades ago when he was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. There’s no claim that Jordan engaged in such misconduct, the claim is that he knew about, but failed to take action to stop, sexual harassment by a team doctor. * * * In Jordan’s case, the two accusers are highly suspect. According to Chuck Ross at the Daily Caller, one of them, Dunyasha Yetts, served prison time for a $1.8 million fraud scheme that involved bilking...

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday fiercely denied allegations that he failed to stop a sports physician from sexually abusing student athletes at Ohio State University when he was a wrestling coach there. Jordan told Politico in an interview that he would have intervened had he known about the doctor's alleged behavior. "It’s not true," Jordan told Politico. "I never knew about any type of abuse. If I did, I would have done something about it. And look, if there are people who are abused, then that’s terrible and we want justice to happen." Three former wrestlers at OSU told...

Full Title: Powerful GOP Rep. Jim Jordan accused of turning blind eye to sexual abuse as Ohio State wrestling coach Rep. Jim Jordan, the powerful Republican congressman from Ohio, is being accused by former wrestlers he coached more than two decades ago at Ohio State University of failing to stop the team doctor from molesting them and other students. The university announced in April that it was investigating accusations that Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, abused team members when he was the team doctor from the mid-1970s to late 1990s. Jordan, who was assistant wrestling coach at the...

Allegations that Rep. Jim Jordan failed to stop a team doctor from sexually abusing student athletes when the Ohio Republican was a college wrestling coach is complicating his possible bid for Speaker of the House. The NBC News story dropped Tuesday just as Jordan began reaching out to GOP colleagues, urging them to ditch Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and instead back him for the top job in the House GOP conference. Jordan, 54, the powerful founding chairman of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, has not formally announced a bid for Speaker but has said he plans to be “part of...