Are you puzzled by the actions of Jason Chaffetz?
I was very surprised by his comments about General Flynn and the investigation. I never expected any Republican to come out and say what he did?
I thought he had given his notice? That he was leaving? Maybe this week? Everybody was wondering what was going on with him? Was it an affair and he needed to save his marriage? Or was he, himself, involved with the Russians?
Something seemed to have changed his mind from only a week or so ago. At that time, he had no intention of investigating anything about Trump or the Russians. But, yesterday was definitely a change in his wording and his demeanor.
Does he know something big and is getting in front of it to protect himself? Or did he think that if he came out in support of the investigation, he would be blackballed by the Republican Party and he would not have a future in the Republican Party? I don't think that is likely, but there has been a change in Jason Chaffetz.
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Jason Chaffetz is so ambitious that his last name is a verb.
In the political world, to Chaffetz means to throw a former mentor under the bus in order to get ahead, and various prominent Republicans, from former Utah governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. to House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, have experienced what it's like to get Chaffetzed. But the five-term Utah Republican and powerful chairman of the House oversight committee shocked Washington on Wednesday when he announced he would not seek reelection in 2018 or run for any other political office that year in order to spend more time with his family.
Running over people who helped him on the way up was becoming something of a pattern for Chaffetz. He'd chaired the oversight committee for less than a year before launching an audacious bid for speaker of the House when John Boehner retired. Aside from being a very junior member of Congress, Chaffetz's bid for the speakership also meant he would be running against his friend and former champion, Rep. Kevin McCarthy. As House Majority Leader, McCarthy had helped to launch Chaffetz's rise in the House, dispensing with old seniority rules and working to promote telegenic young legislators, including Chaffetz. Hearing the news about the Chaffetz challenge, Jon Huntsman tweeted: ".@GOPLeader McCarthy just got "Chaffetzed." Something I know a little something about. #selfpromoter #powerhungry
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On February 9, Chaffetz got a wake-up call when he returned to Utah for a town hall, where he was besieged by a hostile, heckling crowd, shouting "Do your job," and "We want to get rid you." These listening sessions are typically subdued affairs, but this one drew hundreds of angry constituents, who demanded to know why the chairman of the House oversight committee was not doing more to investigate President Trump. (A pair of Utah Republicans recently bought a billboard on the highway to Chaffetz's Utah office that asks, "Why won't Chaffetz investigate the Trump-Russia connection?"
Chaffetz's district is one of the reddest in the nation, and he's used to being popular at home. He was reelected last November with nearly 75 percent of the vote. But after four easy reelection campaigns, his poll numbers have plunged to their lowest levels ever. Before he announced that he would not seek reelection, opponents on his left and the right were lining up to take him on. Trump nemesis Rosie O'Donnell recently donated $2,700—the maximum allowed by law—to Chaffetz's Democratic opponent, Kathryn Allen, giving her fledgling campaign a Twitter boost that has helped Allen rake in more than $500,000 in contributions. The former independent presidential candidate, Evan McMullin, who launched his anti-Trump effort in Utah, had suggested he might consider challenging Chaffetz or Hatch.
Whatever his motives are you can be sure that he only has his and his party's best interests at heart. Period.
