WATCH: Elise Stefanik’s Reference to Jim Jordan’s Time on the ‘Wrestling Mat’ Elicits Gasps in House Chamber

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the chair of the House GOP Conference, nominated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Tuesday for House speaker and received a bevy gasps and whistles when she mentioned the Ohio Republicans time on the “wresting mat.”

Jordan has long had a dark cloud hanging over his political career from the time he was an assistant college wrestling coach and the lingering accusations he did not protect his athletes from sexual abuse.

NBC News ran a story last week documenting some of Jordan’s former wrestlers blasting him:

Four of the former Ohio State University wrestlers who have accused Rep. Jim Jordan of failing to protect them from a sexual predator when he was the team’s assistant coach in the 1980s and ’90s said Tuesday he has no business being the next speaker of the House.

“Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” said former OSU wrestler Mike Schyck, one of the hundreds of former athletes and students who say they were sexually abused by school doctor Richard Strauss and have sued the university. “Is that the kind of character trait you want for a House speaker?”

“Jim is the voice of the American people who have felt voiceless for far too long, whether as Judiciary chair, conservative leader, or representative for his constituents in West Central Ohio, whether on the wrestling mat or in the committee room,” Stefanik said about halfway through her otherwise very standard speech.

The moment immediately elicited jeers and gasps in the chamber that were picked up and broadcast live.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.