Utah’s 3rd District Representative, Republican Jason Chaffetz, says he won't use his House Oversight Committee to go after Donald Trump’s potential business conflicts — at least not yet.
Chaffetz has drawn criticism from Democrats over his relentless pursuit of Hillary Clinton and his vow to continue his investigations of her use of a private email server while Secretary of State.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, has sentChaffetz two letters asking him to use this same fervor to probe Trump’s business entanglements.
In interviews this week, including one on KSLNewsradio, Chaffetz says he has no intention of probing Trump’s dealings until after the inauguration.
“Until he’s actually sworn in as the president, and he starts acting in that capacity, I’m not going to start to go on a fishing trip for the Democrats, to dive into his own personal business dealings," Chaffetz told KSL. "That’s not the role of the federal government.”
Trump has promised to separate himself from his multinational company and put his three children in charge, but business and ethics experts say this will likely not go far enough in avoiding future conflicts of interests.
