Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) and former 2012 GOP presidential hopeful doesn't think the Freeh report tells the whole truth on the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
In a radio interview conducted by Dallas-Ft. Worth’s KSKY 660 AM Friday, Santorum did not go into specifics, but criticized the Freeh Report, which investigated the cover up of Sandusky's crimes.
"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.
Sandusky was convicted of molesting and raping children over a 15-year period on June 22, 2012. Former FBI director Louis Freeh released a report this month on his investigation of Penn State, revealing details about top officials who allegedly conspired to keep reports of Sandusky's assaults on children from the public.
"I understand the NCAA and what they did in reaction to that report," he added, "[but the NCAA] actually usually [does] their own internal investigation, their own fact checking. They sort of accepted someone else's work product."
Santorum attended Penn State. He claims his grades suffered because of his conservative beliefs. Santorum once sponsored Sandusky in 2002 for a Congressional Angels In Adoption award.
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.
"I'm a little concerned as I always am, and I found this to be the case when I was in Congress," Santorum said. "When a crisis happens everyone wants to act right away to be decisive and put it behind them instead of maybe taking a little bit of time to see how this all works out."
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.
Listen to the comments, via ThinkProgress:
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