More of the same, it appears.
At a town hall meeting in Utah on Thursday evening, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) had to struggle through a crowd of protesters, intent on pushing him on his treatment of President Trump.
“If you want to continue to look into [2016 Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton, I don’t care,” an attendee named Noor Ul-Hasan asked Chaffetz, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “But why aren’t you checking out your own president?”
“You’re really not going to like this part,” Chaffetz responded. “The president, under the law, is exempt from conflict of interest laws.”
As the House Oversight Committee chairman, Chaffetz played a major role in the Benghazi hearings, as well as the hearings over Hillary Clinton’s email server.
At Thursday night’s meeting, which was held at the Brighton High School, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, Chaffetz had to deal with numerous interruptions, including loud booing whenever Trump’s name was mentioned.
“If you want me to answer the question, give me more than five seconds to do it,” Chaffetz said after one interruption. “I’m trying to be as representative as I can.”
The venue was at capacity, and those present seemed to believe Chaffetz was not extending the same level of scrutiny to Trump as he and the Oversight Committee did with Hillary Clinton.
#Chaffetz, urging fewer jeers: "Folks, I get one sentence into it, you say I'm not answering the question – I AM answering the q, OK?" Then: pic.twitter.com/VUUDc3Toau
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
This comes on the same day that Chaffetz joined with Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking Oversight Committee member, in urging the Office of Government Ethics to recommend disciplinary actions against Kellyanne Conway, President Trump’s top White House counselor.
#Chaffetz hits Kellyanne Conway as "wrong, wrong, wrong" to promote Ivanka Trump's business. pic.twitter.com/RDtAi0k1f7
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
This was in response to Conway apparently violating federal ethics laws that prevent agents of the administration from advertising products.
Conway had suggested that everyone go and buy Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” earlier in the day.
I know for a fact that there are already groups formed to push for Trump’s impeachment, even before he’s committed any impeachable offense.
This is the new normal. Everyone with an “R” after their name will have to answer for anything Trump or a member of his team does, and they can just about give up on having any sort of open forum that won’t be disrupted by protesters.
Because the best way to get answers is to continually interrupt, of course.
#Chaffetz town hall post-game: Protesters who couldn't get in are still outside chanting "we'll be back!" and "investigate Trump!" pic.twitter.com/tnkPa2Wput
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
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