Santorum Defends Penn State, Paterno

Posted on Jul 27, 2012

Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)

Many and more have condemned Penn State and Joe Paterno over their handling of allegations involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, but not “family values guy” Rick Santorum. During a radio appearance Friday, the former Pennsylvania senator, Republican presidential candidate and Penn State alum defended the university while being highly critical of the Freeh report on the school’s response to the abuse.

“My concern with the Freeh report, a lot of the conclusions in the Freeh report aren’t matched by the evidence that they presented,” Santorum said, not going into specifics. He added, “I’ve been talking to a lot of folks at Penn State and they say, ‘you’re just gonna have to wait for the criminal trial of these two guys at Penn State.’ I think there is going to be a whole new line set on what really went on there. So I’m sort of sitting back and waiting for the facts to come out.”

The Huffington Post:

ThinkProgress notes that when the story broke last winter, Santorum said he’d be “rooting for” head football coach Joe Paterno and wished him the best. Santorum said it was unfair Paterno was fired.

Paterno passed away in January, and observers now say the Freeh report demonstrates that Paterno would’ve likely faced criminal charges such as child endangerment, perjury and conspiracy in his neglect to report Sandusky to authorities.

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The Freeh investigation included reviews of 3.5 million documents, notes and emails in addition to 430 interviews. It was launched in November 2011, shortly after Sandusky’s initial arrest and was concluded in July 2012.

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Sandusky has been convicted of raping and molesting boys over a 15-year-period. Earlier this week, Penn State received severe penalties from the NCAA after the report found that school officials failed to take action on the molestation allegations. Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and retired Vice President Gary Schultz are awaiting trial on charges related to the case.

Here’s audio from Santorum’s interview with Dallas-Fort Worth’s KSKY 660 AM:

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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