Rep. Jason Chaffetz To Give Up House Seat In June

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah announced Thursday that he will be leaving office on June 30. He had previously announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2018, but he had not confirmed that he would be leaving Congress with a year and a half left in his term.

"As you know, after careful consideration and long discussion with my wife, Julie, we agree the time has come for us to move on from this part of our life," he said in a statement. "My life has undergone some big changes over the last 18 months. Those changes have been good. But as I celebrated my 50th birthday in March, the reality of spending more than 1,500 nights away from my family over eight years hit me harder than it had before. "

As chair of the House Oversight Committee, Chaffetz has been at the center of many debates about keeping the Trump administration accountable. While he's generally been hesitant to go after the president when it comes to potential conflicts of interest regarding business ventures he and his staffers have stakes in, he did criticize counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway when she promoted Ivanka Trump's clothing line on air. And this week, he requested former FBI director James Comey's memos, which a report in the New York Times said documents the president asking Comey to back off of the bureau investigation into Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Rachel Bade of Politico reported that Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who led the investigations into the Benghazi attacks, may replace Chaffetz as Oversight chair.

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