Jason Chaffetz was ready, willing and eager to launch investigations against Hillary Clinton if she had won the election and told everyone so. But now that we have President-elect Trump and his myriad of conflicts of interest and crony capitalism? Chaffetz thinks we should give him a chance. Rep. Elijah Cummings isn't having it.
December 4, 2016

(h/t Heather for video)

During the interminable campaign, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, was only too happy to announce that he had binders full of investigations he was ready to launch against prospective President Hillary Clinton:

“It’s a target-rich environment,” Chaffetz told the Washington Post in a story out Wednesday. “Even before we get to Day One, we’ve got two years’ worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain’t good.”

But now, post-election and a very different president-elect waiting in the wings, Chaffetz has discovered a latent desire for caution. Chaffetz, who once took the bold stance of saying he couldn't support a sexual assaulter like Trump for president, before cowering before party pressuring and deciding that sexual assault and misogyny were nothing compared to a (*gasp!*) woman in office, thinks that the Oversight Committee should wait until Trump's in office, for crying out loud, before worrying that the norm-busting, walking talking Conflict of Interest-elect might be violating any laws. Pay no attention to those 75 pending court cases.

But Minority co-Chair Elijah Cummings isn't having it. He tells AM Joy's host Joy Ann Reid that Chaffetz's behavior is not surprising, but he's going to fight it.

REID: We know in the past when Republicans have taken over the House, they have done things to prevent Democrats from even getting hearing rooms, to try to thwart the ability of the minority to do really any sort of oversight whatsoever; to sort of shut it down. Do you have concern about that, and is there anything Democrats can do to ensure that you have the ability to conduct investigations on your own, to have subpoena power, et cetera, if Republicans try to stop you?

CUMMINGS: Again, it is going to be difficult, but -- but what our constituents can do, and by the way we've gotten -- our phone has been ringing off the hook. as a matter of fact, when they call the Chaffetz's office trying to get them to do the right thing, that is constituents from all over the country, they then send them to our office. There has to be some kind of way the public has to put pressure on their congressmen, and by the way, these calls are coming not only from people who supported Hillary Clinton but also coming from people who supported Mr. Trump. And these are basically people that want government to be fair and that's what we're look for. Joy, I promise you. we're going to fight this with everything that we have.

Did you catch that interesting little tidbit? When Americans call Rep. Chaffetz to ask him to do the job he was entrusted to do, he redirects the call to the Minority co-chair, who can't get hearing rooms reserved, much less hearings scheduled.

Republican Party, operating for the benefit of the party over the country since 1928.

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