In what’s becoming all too familiar, furious Democratic voters invaded congressional town hall meetings across the country, including one held by Rep. jason chaffetz in Utah last night. More than 1,000 protestors spent over an hour and a half harassing Chaffetz, who spent much of his time pleading to let him answer their questions. The largely progressive base was angry at President Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns, telling Chaffetz to investigate Trump over possible conflicts of interest.
Others criticized Chaffetz for backing then-candidate Trump in the election, even after the Access Hollywood tape was made public.
Even though Chaffetz disavowed Trump after the tape was released, he later said in the election that Trump was better than Hillary. “In my heart of hearts,” Chaffetz told the protestors he believed he made the right decision. Sources said at least 90 percent of the attendees were progressive liberals.
'Do Your Job!': @jasoninthehouse Faces Enraged Town Hall Crowd in Utahhttps://t.co/O7svsPAXA7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 10, 2017
‘Do your job’
Chaffetz said there was zero chance he would vote for Hillary Clinton. He got booed again and the crowd chanted “do your job, do your job,” referring to Trump’s tax returns. Attendees accused him of favoring Trump because he investigated Hillary’s private email server but won’t get Trump to release his tax returns.
Chaffetz heads the House Oversight Committee.
Chaffetz said President Trump is “exempt from these conflict of interest laws.” But he got some cheers when he talked about Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s closest White House aide. He said she was “wrong” for asking people to buy Ivanka’s clothing line in an interview about stores dropping Ivanka after pressure from left-wing groups. He also said he sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics about her comments.
What she did was wrong, wrong, wrong. Here is our bi-partisan letter to the White House and OGE. #Donteverdothis https://t.co/zqeYhcttMB
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) February 9, 2017
Tempers flare
Even though Chaffetz quickly realized the town hall meeting was stacked with angry progressives, he said the GOP was working to block Planned Parenthood from getting federal dollars.
In deep-red Utah, that is a popular refrain but he got jeered by the largely liberal attendees. The auditorium was filled with about 1,000 people, with hundreds more waiting outside. Many were angry at the temporary travel ban and still others over public lands’ disputes.
At times Chaffetz was energized by the irate crowd, but he spent much of the time being interrupted by taunts, boos, and angry chants. Tempers flared in the open forum with Democrats furious over his support for Trump. Chaffetz tried to bring up Vice President Mike Pence but was scoffed at as the crowd booed. He managed to say “Pence is like the nicest human being,” earning him more jeers.
Chaffetz on co-sponsoring bill: ‘We simply don’t need the Department of Education’ https://t.co/yICKQ0WKAg pic.twitter.com/IRGD41rOBV
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) February 9, 2017
‘Get rid of you’
Chaffetz also tried to find a common enemy in the new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who was confirmed along party lines with the Utah senator voting against her.
He touted a bill he sponsored that would eliminate the Department of Education, handing control of schools and funding to the states. He also told the attendees that he wanted to “get rid of Betsy DeVos.” That prompted a man to scream, “We want to get rid of you.”
Chaffetz got reelected for a fifth term by beating his opponent by 47 percentage points. Some accused him of holding the town hall as a prelude to taking over Sen. Orrin Hatch’s leadership.