The day after making a jaw-dropping announcement that he won't seek re-election, Congressman Jason Chaffetz told FOX 13 he may not even finish his term in office.
“When I contemplate another 200 nights away from home, it is just too much,” Chaffetz told FOX 13 news anchor Bob Evans.
Hours later, Chaffetz released a statement, adding: "My future plans are not yet finalized but I haven't ruled out the possibility of leaving early. In the meantime, I still have a job to do and have no plans to take my foot off the gas."
The announcement led to more speculation and some suspicion about the 3rd District congressman's reasons for leaving. The powerful chairman of the House Oversight Committee has repeatedly cited turning 50, growing weary of sleeping on his office cot, and his family being back in Utah.
The first thing that everybody needs to keep in mind is that when a politician says they are quitting to spend more time with their family, that it is ALWAYS bullshit.
And as Mother Jones points out Chaffetz has been almost brutally aggressive with his ambitions:
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.
MJ goes on however to suggest that this might be some carefully laid out plan by Chaffetz to make distance between himself and Donald Trump while he plots his return to politics.
However I am still of a mind that there is something seriously scandalous that Chaffetz is attempting to head off or stay well clear of, and that the only thing he is doing is covering his own ass.
Keep in mind the lesson of Sarah Palin.
Once you quit partway through your term the road back is virtually nonexistent.
"...But even as he announced that he was stepping away from politics, Chaffetz and his supporters seemed to be quietly planning his political future. In early April, his campaign committee registered the domains Jason2028.com and JasonChaffetz2028.com."
ReplyDelete2028 seems a long time away, especially in politics and even if you're looking at the White House.
DeleteDoes that mean he's anticipating a Democratic win and reelection in 2020 and 2024?
Source?
DeleteAnyone can register a domain name.
DeleteWe could spend a few bucks and register VoteSarah2018.com and start lots of rumors.
Go ahead Sarah, steal my idea. We need the laughs and humor breaks around here.
POTUS doesn't understand why you can't force a shutdown to blame Dems when GOP controls both houses of Congress. #governmentishard
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff/status/855473696437399554
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C99A7_kVoAA6veG.jpg
The 45th president knows nothing about anything. He is a con artist, pure and simple, and he and his pals in Russia, with the GOP as their lackeys, have successfully conned the United States of America.
DeleteBeaglemom
The Mother Jones article was interesting...I knew I didn't like him, but I wonder if he knows how pathetic and unlikeable he appears when his story is told.
ReplyDeleteThe only time 'spending more time with the family' isn't a flimsy excuse is when there is some kind of serious illness, either for the politician themselves or a family member.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't seem to be the case this time, so it's natural for everyone to be suspicious, especially when the quitting date keeps changing and moving up.
So, WHAT does he know that makes him want to make such a hasty departure from the world of politics?
12:17. He's got inside intel, he's a rat, and the ship is sinking fast enough that he can't hang on much longer. That simple. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. Look, there is a God.
DeleteYes, I do think he's retreating to avoid a scandal, hoping that whatever it is will blow over or Trump will do something to distract from it, leaving him relatively intact politically.
ReplyDeleteI also think he's decided to run for Governor, thinking that it will be an easier path to the White House.
He's looking at a Potus run in 2028.
quitting his term early will cost the taxpayers a lot of money for an election to replace him. If he was unable to fulfill his duties for a job he ran for, why should voters give him another opportunity to decide that he wasn't cut out for the job? It's a two year position, how did he not know that he was tired of sleeping on a cot?
DeleteSarah Palin’s Posse Grabs White House By Pussy, And It Is Classy As Fuque!
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin is a low life upon whose face history will urinate.
https://wonkette.com/615982/sarah-palins-posse-grabs-white-house-by-pussy-and-it-is-classy-as-fuque
Ouch. That backfired on her. As usual. Dumbass.
DeleteJason Chaffetz Might Quit Congress Early To Go To Fox News Or Jail
ReplyDelete...Drip. Drip. Drip drip drip. DRIP! Sounds like he’s in big trouble mister, but FOR WHAT? Is there a #scandal a-brewin’? Is it the thing we wildly speculated about how some young male or female intern did sexxx affairs with him? And if so, did they not notice his bad face? Meh, maybe he is about to be indicted in the Russia thing and Vladimir has a tape of him with pee hookers, so he’s running away as fast as he can.
OR MAYBE! McKay Coppins, scooping up more scoops, with his scoop scooper:
...Maybe he’s just a pussy and can’t bear the thought of doing another town hall with all those mean people yelling at him. Maybe Fox News really does want to give him a show, called “Why Is There A Bag Over My Head? With Jason Chaffetz.” Or maybe he’s going to J-A-I-L.
https://wonkette.com/616001/jason-chaffetz-might-quit-congress-early-to-go-to-fox-news-or-jail
OT? Milan Investment Limited.
ReplyDeletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/usa-today-shell-companies-purchasing-trump-properties-milan-investment
A couple of weeks before the Republican National Convention, a Las Vegas financial firm filed paperwork to found Milan Investment Limited in Nevada.
ReplyDeleteDays later, the newly minted company went on a buying spree. Milan spent $3.1 million over four months to buy 11 luxury condos in a shimmering golden tower near the Strip that Trump owns with friend and casino mogul Phil Ruffin. Trump Ruffin LLC collected the last of the money weeks before Trump was elected.
Milan Investment tracks back to what appears to be an incorrect address, the strip mall office of a financial services firm.
The owner, Thomas Sullivan, said he never heard of Milan Investment but said a federal “regulatory” agency visited his office in person asking similar questions. He declined to identify the agency.
“We’re completely in the dark,” Sullivan said. “We don’t know if it was a mistake, or they used our address for some reason, but we aren’t associated with them.”
On the deeds from Milan’s purchases, Eric Trump signed for the sellers. An accountant signed for the buyers, and deeds do not identify any people behind Milan.
USA TODAY tracked corporate, loan and property records across Nevada, Texas and Canada to tie three names to Milan Investment.
In Nevada, where rules let anyone form companies without identifying the owners, Milan’s officers are listed as Jun Xu and Qi Huang with an address at an office suite on the outskirts of Las Vegas.
Additional documents underlying the sale give two more addresses, both million-dollar condos in Vancouver, for Xu and Huang. Canadian records indicate they own both and hold a license to rent one. The records list Xu as a “businessman” and Huang as a “housewife.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/20/trump-owns-250m-condos-and-you-could-buy-one/100566302/
NOW CAN AMERICA SEE TRUMP'S TAXES?
DeleteWho does he owe in foreign governments?
Maybe we could get one of the Trump offspring as the first to go to prison?
DeleteBeaglemom
Trump Cheers On ISIS And Emboldens Terrorists For Political Gain After Paris Attack
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/21/donald-trump-emboldens-terrorists-paris-attack-far-right-candidate.html
‘White-trash Mount Rushmore’: CNN pundit Paul Begala slams Palin, Nugent, Kid Rock pic
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/white-trash-mount-rushmore-cnn-pundit-paul-begala-hates-palin-nugent-kid-rock-pic/
‘Phony numbers and front groups’: Trump’s inaugural donor list contains massive evidence of fraud
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/phony-numbers-and-front-groups-trumps-inaugural-donor-list-contains-massive-evidence-of-fraud/
Hallelujah!
ReplyDeleteIn a rousing speech designed to highlight the strength of progressive unity, Rev. William Barber pointed out that Republicans “had to go all the way to Russia and get help just to win.”
Speaking to the United Steelworkers 2017 conference, whose theme was “the power of unity,” Barber highlighted how “afraid” the right is “of our unity.”
He then pointed out the right’s campaign of voter suppression, the use of outside dark money, and the influence of Russian meddling on the outcome of the election.
http://shareblue.com/rev-barber-on-republican-desperation-they-had-to-go-all-the-way-to-russia-and-get-help-just-to-win/
Why Is Chaffetz Resigning? It Will All Come Out in the Laundering
ReplyDelete...Latest from a well placed Congressional source is that @jasoninthehouse multi year affair with a woman was about to be revealed.
Now that’s not going to go down well in Utah, Jason, not to mention the grief you’ll be causing your wife, Julie.
Yet this isn’t reason enough to pre-announce your resignation, especially so early in a new congressional session. Other politicians have been caught in affairs and worse but have remained in their seats and even been re-elected. So what gives?
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/21/1654905/-Why-Did-Chaffetz-Resign-It-Will-All-Come-Out-in-the-Laundering
Money. Money. Money.
DeleteMoney.
Jason may go to jail.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.palmerreport.com/politics/report-former-staffer-confirms-jason-chaffetz-is-under-fbi-investigation/2375/
Russian Planes Buzz Alaska Four Nights in a Row
ReplyDeleteAmerican and Canadian fighter planes scrambled to intercept two Russian TU-95 “Bear” bombers Thursday night, marking the fourth consecutive night of Russian probes near the Alaskan coast, U.S. defense officials said Friday.
At no point did the Russian aircraft cross into American or Canadian airspace, but the incursions into the Air Identification Zones — which extend beyond the territorial waters of the U.S. and Canada — represent a sharp increase in activity in the area, which has seen no Russian activity at all since 2015. The flights may also herald the return of Moscow’s 60-year-old nuclear capable bomber to the international stage, after the entire fleet was grounded in 2015 after a rash of accidents.
Over the past several years, Moscow has played a high-speed game of cat-and-mouse with U.S. and NATO aircraft and naval vessels in the Baltic and Black Seas regions, but this level of activity hasn’t been seen near Alaska since 2014, one defense official told FP.
It’s unclear what the overall objective of the Russian passes are, but they’re in keeping with tactics Russian pilots have employed in recent years in the Baltic and Black sea regions, where NATO pilots regularly intercept aircraft sent by the Kremlin to skirt the airspace of NATO countries.
Over the Baltic, just off the coastlines of NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Russian military aircraft were intercepted 110 times by allied planes in 2016. That was a decrease from the 160 recorded intercepts in 2015, but it has been enough to keep both sides well-versed in the protocols of flying in close proximity.
In February, several Russian aircraft buzzed the USS Porter in the Black Sea in an incident the skipper of the American guided missile destroyer called “unsafe.” That included passes by an Il-38 sub-hunting plane, followed by two Su-24 fighter-bombers and a Su-24.
The latest round of flights began Monday night, when two Bear bombers were tracked near Alaska, prompting the scramble of two U.S. F-22s to intercept them. Two more Bears showed up on Tuesday night, during which U.S. officials say an AWACS E-3 surveillance plane was sent to track them. On Wednesday, a Russian IL-38 maritime patrol and anti-submarine plane was spotted in the same area, and was followed by American planes.
A spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told FP that on Thursday evening, the American F-22s and Canadian CS-18 Hornets didn’t attempt to make radio contact with the Russian bombers, and the Russians never attempted to communicate with U.S. or Canadian military installations on the ground. But “at no time did the Russian bombers enter sovereign North American airspace,” on any of the four nights, the spokesperson said.
According to information provided by NORAD, U.S. aircraft have intercepted Russian planes about 60 times since 2007.
Earlier this month, Japan scrambled 14 fighter jets to intercept the Bear bombers and an IL-20 surveillance plane that had crossed to within 40 miles of the Japanese coast, and in late January, a pair of Russian bombers circumnavigated Japan for the first time in a year.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/21/russian-planes-buzz-alaska-four-nights-in-a-row/
I can't remember where I read where Chaffetz has his own e-mail problems that's being investigated, I was listening to the RandiRhodes.com she says he was the one that leaked Comley's letter to Congress to the press.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats don't make any deals
ReplyDeleteIs Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz being forced out of Washington DC or face treason charges for running to Putin's puppet in the WH and disclosing the charges and evidence against him and his band of traitors?
He was headed for a Senate run and abruptly stopped. At that point, people were saying that his opponent had dirt on little Jason! Something is up!!
ReplyDelete'The handwriting is on the wall' for Trump's presidency
ReplyDeleteTrump has always over-promised and under-delivered.
His signature initiatives are either delayed or dead on arrival.
The Trump presidency, in its early days, is already looking like a failed effort.
A review of Donald Trump's business career would lead one to say that he has always over-promised and under-delivered. Whether his long list of bankruptcies in the ever-profitable casino business, the failures of his "university,' steak, vodka or clothing lines, there has been a history of putting himself first, while ignoring the needs of his constituents.
We may be seeing that play out in his approach to government, as well. As in business, Trump has a constituency of one … himself … just ask his stock and bond investors, his suppliers, contractors, laborers, or even his customers. Unlike Trump, they rarely, if ever, participated in the "upside" of Trump-branded products.
So, too, is this happening in the early days of the Trump presidency. His executive orders notwithstanding, the folks who voted for President Trump, thus far, have nothing to show for it. Indeed, it is quite early to make a claim that Trump has failed his constituents entirely, but the handwriting may be on the wall.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/handwriting-on-the-wall-for-trumps-presidency-commentary.html
I find it interesting that, all of a sudden with the new administration, campaign promises seem to mean nothing to the GOP. Hmmm.
DeleteBeaglemom
Doesn't this guy sleep on a cot in his D.C. office? Maybe he really does want to go home!
ReplyDeletewouldn't he had been feeling it before running for his current term?
DeleteDon't they house them in DC.
DeleteFollow Claude Taylor on Twitter. He is aligned with Louise Mensch, David Corn, etc. He says for sure campaign finance scandal and a multiyear affair kompromat on Chaffetz.
ReplyDeleteLol. Kompromat, the libs favorite new playword compliments of the Mensch stench, makes them think they be all smart. fyi, Mensch is playing you all, she loves the attention. Curious, have you seen her in an interview yet? It isn't pretty.
DeleteOh, dear. Does that mean that there can be House investigations between now and who know when into Chaffetz Russian connection? Let's make him testif day after day after day? And then call other GOP members of Congress, day after day after day. They certainly enjoyed tormenting Hillary Clinton who had no ties to foreign powers.
DeleteBeaglemom
Noooo, my fave new word is 'prostituki', @1:29. Stereotyping is the First Refuge of an Asshole. Remember that.
DeleteDare you to say "Mensch stench" 5 times without stumblin'!
Chaffetz's father was first married to Kitty Dukakis and the Dukakis kid is his stepbrother. I wonder if the Dukakis's were paramount in helping him through this political quagmire?
ReplyDeleteWhen you learn how interconnected they all are, it's hard not to think WE'RE SCREWED.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, do any of you think they'll be brought up on charges? That's why the likes of Palin etal flit about the country. No one's going to do a damned thing.
I cannot believe "no one's going to do a damned thing." My suspicion is that indictments are taking a maddening amount of time because the IC has shit on ALL of the top Republicans. Trump, his joke of a cabinet, McConnell, Ryan, Nunes, Chaffetz, and on down to county animal control officers. Watergate is gonna look like a Sunday school picnic compared to this treasonous clusterfuck.
Delete(Hey, a girl can hope, right?)
If they want the ship to stay at cruise control they will.
DeleteOr the Titanic will repeat!
Figuratively speaking...