OSU Victim and Survivor Michael DiSabato Speaks out on Jim Jordan’s Deposition

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2:20today.

2:21Ben Meiselas:So with all the talk of Donald Trump covering up his dark past, we should also look at the people who are covering up for Donald Trump and they're involved in their own cover-ups in their own world. I mean, you think about the MAGA Republican Congress member, Jim Jordan, who is not a licensed lawyer, although he went to a law school, who chairs the Judiciary Committee. He's someone who consistently covers up for all of Donald Trump's crimes and misconduct. On Friday, Jim Jordan was deposed in connection with the massive cover up that he was involved in when he was an assistant wrestling coach at the Ohio State University.

3:02Ben Meiselas:And there was the wrestling coach who was the coach at Ohio State from 1978 to 1998, Dr. Richard Strauss, who would sexually assault the wrestling players. Hundreds and hundreds of players would be sexually assaulted there through these genital checks that he claimed were part of his job as the wrestling coach. But Jim Jordan was inextricably involved in the cover up for years that led to more victimization on Friday. This isn't getting a lot of attention elsewhere. On Friday, Jim Jordan is or has been deposed. Now, you potentially saw the documentary Surviving Ohio State on HBO. And so that was released about a month or so ago.

3:49Ben Meiselas:I want to delve into this now, and I want to bring in one of the victims of Dr. Strauss at the Ohio State University, survivor of this. Michael DeSabato was on the wrestling team there at the Ohio State University. Michael was one of the first people who, the first person who came out with what happened to him by Dr. Strauss. And then all the other people then said, you know, yes, this happened to me as well. And so courageously coming out with what went with what happened. Michael, you went there from what years were you there, Michael, again? I was an undergrad from 1986 through 1991 and then did my postgrad from 92 to 94.

4:35So I was on campus from 1986 to 94.

4:40Ben Meiselas:And your younger brother was on the team as well. We're going to get into that. And you've provided us with never before seen emails from you to Jim Jordan that we're going to show exclusively here on the Midas Touch Network for the first time. Let me just remind our viewers of two things first. Then we're going to get into the interview. First, your brother who gave this courageous speech in front of the Ohio state legislature. And he talks about Jim Jordan calling him. Jim Jordan was crying. Please don't tell anyone what happened to you. Please. This is going to hurt me. Please stop. And now Jim Jordan goes, oh, that never, that, that never happened.

5:20Ben Meiselas:But here, here's your brother, Adam. Let's play it.

5:26This is disgusting. You people have the power to do something. Ohio State is too arrogant. They think it's going to go away. Jim Jordan called me crying. crying,

5:47groveling on the 4th of July, begging me to go against my brother, begging me, crying for a half hour. That's the kind of cover-ups that's going on there. Now, you guys can sit and act like it's not going on, but I got a lot of other stuff here. Emails that were taken out of my mailbox. That's a crime.

6:27Ben Meiselas:And I want to just show everybody, I want to show everybody as well, just this was a super cut we made of what happened, the sexual assault that took place and the cover up here. Let's show what Midas touched me. Five former Ohio State wrestlers accusing Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of knowing about a team doctor's alleged sexual misconduct. 43 men who say they were sexually assaulted, abused, molested, or harassed by Dr. Richard Strauss. Hundreds of sexual assault victims of Ohio State University Dr. Richard Strauss have never been closer to getting their day in court. The United States Supreme Court today rejecting OSU's bid to dismiss lawsuits brought against the university.

7:08Today, the Supreme Court left in place a ruling to move forward with lawsuits against the late Dr. Richard Strauss. And this allows more than 230 men to sue the Ohio State University over decades old sexual abuse by Strauss. The sexual assaults took place over two decades, 1978 to 1998. And the university launched its own investigation that confirmed hundreds of men were molested, even raped by the former team doctor. But OSU asserted a statute of limitations defense, saying the victims waited too long to come forward. The victims argued to a federal trial court, then an appellate court, that university leaders knew about what the doctor was doing, lied about the abuse, and for years covered it up.

7:56The appellate court agreed.

7:58Ben Meiselas:So, Michael, I wanted to give everybody the extensive background on what happened before, you know, getting into this interview. you. So walk us through what happens, you know, and let's just start with kind of March 2018. What led up to you coming forward with what happened to you? And then let's go to the current with this deposition that's taking place. First of all, thanks for having me, Ben. This actually came about in December 2017. I was sitting with a good friend of mine and Mark Coleman, the former UFC heavyweight champion, and we were sitting together and he was reading the newspaper and he had been following the Larry Nassar case at Michigan State.

8:45His daughter was a gymnast. So he was reading in the details of the abuse at Michigan State. He described what was happening and that one of the key uh facts in that case was larry nasser was performing unnecessary genital exams on female athletes both the usa gymnast or usa gymnastics and michigan state and when i heard that um i i was immediately triggered i said mark that's us uh he paused for a minute and said, you're right. And so that led to, I took a step back. Days following, I called several friends and teammates and just had a conversation to, you know, just to remind each other, did this really happen?

9:39I just want to make sure I'm not, you know, confused here. I know it happened to me. I know we talked about it openly in the locker room. And it was just a confirmation, overwhelming confirmation with everyone I spoke to. So I knew it was an issue. So in March, March 27, 2018, I scheduled, there was a scheduled meeting with university administrators. I sat with them. There were several folks, I think four or five folks, including their attorneys and HR department. And I simply told them my truth, which was Dr. Strauss performed unnecessary genital exams, unnecessary prostate exams, and showered with us on a daily basis throughout my tenure at Ohio State, which stretched from 1986 through 1994.

10:32Ben Meiselas:Now, around that time period also, you were talking to Jim Jordan. What's Jim Jordan's role in all of this? Why were you talking to him? And when did those talks conclude? So Jim and I, you know, after graduation, I maintained a relationship with Jim. I'd chat with him probably once a quarter. You know, Jim was a friend. I've known Jim since he – I've known him for over 50 years. Met him when I was six years old. His family is a prominent wrestling family in the state of Ohio mine as well. So we grew up together. He's a couple years older than me, but he was also my assistant coach. And again, we chatted once, at least once a quarter every year, up until my last conversation with him was in early March of 2018.

11:25Before I came forward, I wanted to reach out to him just to let him know that I was coming forward with the truth. And I was going to have a conversation with the university. I not only chatted with Jim, but I also circled back and had a conversation with Russ Ellickson. And again, I wanted to I didn't want them to be surprised. And I also wanted them to know. And both Russ Russ was very supportive. Jim and I spoke for about 30, 45 minutes about about, you know, this situation. At the end of the conversation, he said, please just don't get me involved. And I kind of kind of struck me as a little bit odd.

12:05But, you know, I I took it for what it was at the time. The March 27th happened. I didn't hear from Jim, you know, for several weeks. And so in April, I think it was April 24th, I sent him an email where I memorialized our conversation from, you know, from early March. And asked him, as I did on the phone call, to intervene and help us with this case. He had, like I said in the email, you know, he has the capacity, the knowledge of what happened and, you know, the power, the position where he's at, where he could, you know, shine light on this and hopefully help us seek justice.

12:58Ben Meiselas:So we have that email now. It's never been seen before. We'll put it up. And the email is from you to Jim Jordan at his House of Representatives email account. And you say, Jim, I'm writing to you to follow up on our 45-minute conversation earlier this month regarding issues surrounding the systemic sexual abuse of athletes in over 10 varsity sports at The Ohio State University, dating back to the mid-1970s, as discussed. And as everyone on this email is aware of, Dr. Richard Strauss sexually assaulted, molested me, my teammates, your brother-in-law and friends, and what is the largest systemic sexual abuse cover-up in modern sports history.

13:40Ben Meiselas:You go on to say that we are watching you in particular as you have direct knowledge, experience with Strauss, DuPont, and other sexual predators who prey on youth athletes. So when you're saying there in this email to him that you have direct knowledge and experience with Strauss, the direct knowledge with the sexual assaults, with the molestations and with the showering with people, what did you observe that led you to believe that Jim Jordan had that knowledge of what Strauss was doing? Let me just be clear. Jim Jordan knew that Dr. Strauss was performing unnecessary genital exams. He knew that Dr.

14:29Strauss was performing unnecessary rectal exams. And he absolutely knew that Dr. Strauss was taking showers with us on a daily basis and also going into the sauna with us on a daily basis. He knows that because he was there with us. He trained, Jim trained with us. He took a shower with us. He did saunas with us. There's no disputing that Strauss was taking showers with us on a daily basis, taking saunas on a daily basis, which is a form of sex abuse. Your doctor should not be showering with his patients. And yet it went on for over 20 years, not just in wrestling, but in several sports. Strauss would take showers with not only the wrestlers, but the gymnasts, swimmers, number of teams.

15:28He would take six to seven showers a day across multiple sports. I know Jim Jordan also knew about genital exams because we had open conversations about Strauss performing genital exams. And we did so in a locker room, let's call it a locker room situation where guys are, we handled it with humor to some extent where, you know, there's Strauss, Strauss gave me a genital exam today, you know, and I recall vividly having a conversation, one conversation in particular with Jim and a group of guys where I had just gotten out of one of the exams, and I made light of the fact that he, you know, he examined my penis for almost three or four minutes, and, you know, I can recall Jim's reaction was, you know, like, oh my God, you know, how could he do that?

16:27And it was some somewhat laughter because again, I, I, I threw it out there as, as uncomfortable banter is, is the best way to describe it. So yes, Jim Jordan absolutely knew that Strauss was performing unnecessary general exams, unnecessary prostate exams, and again, was taking showers and saunas with us on a daily basis. And again, that happened at the university for over 20 years.

16:52Ben Meiselas:Now, as the video that we played at the outset shows, this has been, and we're in 2025, and Jim Jordan is first having a deposition taken. You know, people think about, you know, the course of litigation. We're not at the trial stage. We are at the discovery and deposition stage. I'm sure Jim Jordan did not want to sit for that deposition. They've been trying to avoid him sitting for that deposition. When we find out what's said in the deposition, we're going to, you know, assuming it's not subject to any protective orders or whatever, we will, you know, report on whatever is publicly available from that deposition.

17:34Ben Meiselas:But talk about it from the perspective, because obviously right now in the news, everyone's talking about, you know, the Epstein cover up and and how these powerful elite rich men are covering up for each other and people just want to get the answers. You know, your fight has been a long one and he's still just first getting deposed on Friday. So can you talk through that journey? Oh, Ben, it's, yes, it's been a, let's just say, it's been a traumatic journey, frankly. Yes, 2018 to 2025, you know, when it first came out, we were attacked by, you know, on multiple fronts. Jim, instead of coming to our aid, as we all expected and hoped for, hired lobbyists and PR firms to go on a full frontal attack of me personally and others personally.

18:40You know, my brother, as you saw in the testimony, Jim reached out immediately to, you know, several former wrestlers, asking them to sign a letter to say that they support him, that he never would cover up sexual abuse. Again, he approached my brother Adam, asking to take sides with him over his brother. another surrogate of Jordan approached my other brother to do, again, try to get them to support Jordan against their brother. Again, some of this stuff you can't make up. You know, I still hope, I hold out hope that during this deposition today and after watching Surviving Ohio State, I don't know how someone could watch Surviving Ohio State and be Jim Jordan and not embrace the victims and say, you know what, maybe I missed it back then, but this certainly happened.

19:50It's devastating. It's overwhelmingly truthful, and I'm here to help. Jim Jordan's never reached out to anyone in our group to say, hey, how you doing? You know, I didn't know what was going on, but I'm here to help. And part of that help is just to recognize that you're going through something very difficult, and I want to be here to support you. That's, you know, that's true leadership. That's true. That's true. Human beings would, you know, a good human being would do that. And yet, you know, here we are in 2025. Jim Jordan has not called one person to say, how you doing and how can I help?

20:38He coached hundreds of athletes. He called us friends. He called us teammates. We were there together. That bond is a strong bond. Training with the same folks for, you know, for eight years, I trained with Jim Jordan intimately. And again, we were friends all the way through 2018. and for him not to take a step up. And again, he was not culpable for turning a blind eye. There were reports that Coach Hellickson had made to administrators, letting them know that this was an issue. The administration covered it up. It was just that simple. And so when it came out, we had expected Jim and Russ to support us, and it just didn't happen.

21:36And, you know, that betrayal has been difficult to deal with, frankly, not just for me, but my teammates as well.

21:47Ben Meiselas:Right, because he wasn't a direct defendant in the case. and he had being that he was with the people there and he knew who the victims were. He chose though, when confronted with these facts, even where he may personally, you know, either not be sued or personally be in, he said, you know what though, what's most important for me is covering up all of this, standing on the side of the perpetrators, putting myself shoulder to shoulder with them, and immediately turning against the people I was closest with, because regardless of what the legal outcome, as it specifically relates to Jim Jordan, it makes him look bad that he knew about this and didn't raise it then, And he's like, I, you know, I, I just, I'm, I look in the other way.

22:53Ben Meiselas:I don't want nothing to do with it. Good luck. I'm selling you out. And I think the way you described it the best is just as a human being, you were there, you were in the shower, you saw it take place. You knew what was happening. I told you about the unauthorized genital exams and the unauthorized prostate exam. You are well aware of this. So why, when you know that and you know how close we were all together, are you not just going to just freaking tell the truth? There's so many. That's why I think with the Epstein story, too, is people are like, just why are you covering up for a sex trafficking?

23:28Ben Meiselas:We know what happened. Just stop doing it. Just speak the truth about it and let the chips fall where they are and stop just covering up this stuff because, you know, it makes you think, okay, well, you're covering, what else are you doing? What else are you covering up? What do you want the people to know right now? You know, obviously, you know, he's being deposed today. Many people have watched the documentary on HBO. If not, they should watch Surviving Ohio State and see it for themselves. But what do you just want in this current moment, whether it's about what you're going through, the case in general?

24:01Ben Meiselas:We have almost 6 million subscribers here now. What do you want the people to know? The main thing I would say is watch the documentary. Watch the film. It's important. It's very difficult to watch, but it's impossible to ignore. Sexual abuse, sexual harassment, from sexual assault is the crime as old as time. Epstein, Wexner, all the folks that were involved in these high-profile cases, it's nothing new. What I think, what I'm most proud of is that I didn't just step up, but hundreds of male athletes at Ohio State stepped up Because we stepped up about two weeks after the Jordan case blew up, thousands of athletes at Michigan stepped up who were sexually assaulted by their team doctor at Michigan for over 30 years.

25:06Thousands of athletes. Please watch the film. You'll see testimony of nine what I call superheroes. grown men in their 50s sharing their deepest, darkest secrets and the shame associated with sexual assault. What I want people to know, there's no shame in discussing what happened to you. I hope that this film, and I know this film is already, this is already happening. It's given a voice to the voiceless. In the past, to see elite male athletes speak, not just say I was sexually assaulted, but tell the details of how it happened, I think is so powerful. When you see the former UFC heavyweight champion, Mark Coleman, tell the world that he was not only sexually abused, but describe the procedure, how it happened, that's change of the world type stuff.

26:24You know, I've had men approach me, both DMs and text messages and in person, share their stories with me in a way that I could feel that this is the first time they've ever shared the fact that they were sexually assaulted. And so this film is so important because it gives a voice to folks who are suffering and shame. And there's so many. Again, I said it earlier. This is a crime as old as time. Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, it happens in youth sports. We've got to be diligent and educated. I think this film does so to really teach parents and teach kids what they should expect when they go in for a physical, when they go in to see a doctor, when they're with a Catholic priest, when they're in a Boy Scout.

27:21What are the signs? And then use that information to protect kids, to protect, you know, the most vulnerable. Again, we live in a society where we shame the folks that come forward. We shouldn't be shaming the victims. We should be shaming the criminals, the pedophiles, the serial pedophiles. And they're all over the place. And they operate in plain sight. And, again, I hope this film encourages more folks to come forward to speak about this, men in general. and because there's no shame. We didn't know at the time that this was sexual abuse. We knew that this doctor was performing genital exams on us and it was uncomfortable and it didn't feel right.