Chaffetz Hears Jeers and Boos at Town Hall
Comes as he criticized Kellyanne Conway's promotion of Ivanka Trump clothing
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, got an earful Thursday night over immigration, President Donald Trump, and public lands at a town hall meeting in Utah.
In what the Salt Lake Tribune described as “75 minutes of tense exchanges,” Chaffetz was asked what it would take for him to stand up to Trump.
“If you want to continue to look into Hillary Clinton, I don’t care. But why aren’t you checking out your own president,” asked Noor Ul-Hasan.
Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he was looking into comments from Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on Thursday urging people to buy Ivanka Trump’s clothing line after it was dropped by several major retailers.
About 1,500 people who weren’t able to get into the high school auditorium protested outside, the newspaper reported, and at one time made a rush for the doors, which were blocked by police.
At one point, Chaffetz tried to quiet the crowd, telling the audience, “If you want me to answer the question, give me more than five seconds to do it.”
A former schoolteacher was caught on film asking Chaffetz, “What’s your line in the sand?”
At rowdy town hall, ex-teacher asks Chaffetz — chair of House oversight — “what’s your line in the sand” for Trump? pic.twitter.com/8U7IkpZtsS
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) February 10, 2017
Chaffetz responded by saying he has not gone soft on the White House.
“In terms of doing my job, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing,” he said.
Chaffetz was also booed when he said the president is “exempt” from conflict of interest laws “until there is evidence that [Trump] has somehow overused that to ingratiate his family.”
But not everyone who opposed Chaffetz thought that giving him an earful in a town hall was productive. Salt Lake City Council Member Charlie Luke said harassing Chaffetz could ensure his re-election.
“We need to resist, but let’s be smart in the way we do it,” Luke said on Facebook. Below is a Facebook video from the Salt Lake Tribune.