Man, wouldn’t you hate to be Congressman Jason Chaffetz right now? The Utah Republican is the Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
This is how they describe their mission:
Our mission statement is to ensure the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies. We provide a check and balance on the role and power of Washington – and a voice to the people it serves.
Genuinely good government requires a commitment to expose waste, fraud, and abuse. We ultimately report to hard working taxpayers to ensure their investment in government is spent effectively, efficiently, and transparently.
We identify problems, shine light on the situation, and propose reforms to prevent abuses from being repeated.
Whoah.
Can you imagine being in charge of all that under the Trump administration? So much to oversee, so little time!
Oddly enough, in spite of having investigated the living daylights out of Hillary Clinton’s every move, Chaffetz has so far declined to investigate the finances of President Donald Trump, or the possible conflicts of interest that his many businesses pose. He’s refused to investigate the increasingly obvious connections between Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Even when he was confronted with a hall full of furious constituents demanding, “Do your job!” his only response was to say he thought they were paid protestors.
But at last Chaffetz has found something he can oversee about Trump’s chaotic and careless first month in office.
The Congressman has asked the White House for an explanation of the security protocols used at Trump’s garish resort, “Mar-a-lago,” which he idiotically refers to as the “Winter White House.”
Chaffetz wants to know what the heck was going on when diners at the resort posted photos of the President and Japanese Prime Minister Abe talking over North Korea’s missile launch right there in the dining room. He wants to know what documents were present, what they contained, and, um, who saw them.
He also wants to know just how the White House goes about vetting the employees and guests who are at the glitzy resort while the President of the United States is talking international relations with another world leader. Who are all those people, and how do we know they’re not a security risk?
Jeez. What a good question.
It’s admirable that Congressman Chaffetz is finally realizing he can’t just ignore the way the Trump Team warps standards of protocol, ethics, and law. But maybe it would have been helpful for someone to have raised a red flag before the state dinner in a public restaurant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXty8z3pdso
Featured image via YouTube screengrab. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
