Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah who leads the House Oversight Committee, has been reticent to investigate President Donald Trump for his potential conflicts of interest, and he admitted this week that Trump demanded Chaffetz not talk about oversight with him.
The five-term Congressman also resides in a safe district in Utah, so perhaps he wasn’t expecting a tongue-lashing from his constituents during a town hall meeting Thursday night. But the people who showed up in Cottonwood Heights, a Salt Lake City suburb, were not pleased with Chaffetz, and they had no problem letting him know about it.
They chanted “Do your job” at him …
Cong Chaffetz Town Hall crowd chanting "Do your job!" He's having a hard time answering over crowd noise @UtahIndivisible @IndivisibleTeam pic.twitter.com/gO0BXybGy5
— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) February 10, 2017
… And he drew plenty of jeers from the estimated crowd of more than 1,000 when he said Trump is not required by law to release his tax returns.
Again, #Chaffetz says he wants Trump to release his tax returns, "but it is not required by law." Reaction: pic.twitter.com/KF6rX8Ei3J
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
Chaffetz also said he and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) had sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics and the White House in regards to Kellyanne Conway’s “free commercial” Thursday in which she urged people to buy Ivanka Trump’s brand of clothing following the news Nordstrom had dropped it from its stores.
“In this case, Conway’s statements from the White House using her official title could appear to constitute an explicit endorsement and advertisement for Ivanka Trump’s personal business activities,” Chaffetz and Cummings wrote.
That didn’t seem to satisfy the crowd, and not even a biting statement directed at new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could keep the crowd on Chaffetz’s side.
#Chaffetz says he wants to eliminate Edu Dept. "I want to get rid of Betsy DeVos!"
Man: "We want to get rid of you!"
Right vid this time: pic.twitter.com/VItRuX9d8A
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
Chaffetz, who threatened to dig into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for years if she were elected president (and continues to do so, even today), eventually left the town hall 40 minutes early and refused to answer questions from the press.
Chaffetz, though, isn’t the only GOP lawmaker having to answer to his critics. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) also faced plenty of pointed questions about the attempt to appeal Obamacare at her town hall in Murfreesboro on Thursday, while Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) had to be escorted away by security from his town hall last weekend because of protesters.
H/T NY Mag