Angry constituents hammer Chaffetz at testy town hall; he leaves early
High-profile Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz, who as House Oversight chair did his best to milk the “Benghazi!” non-scandal in order to politically damage Hillary Clinton, found out the hard way that his constituents are furious at his failure to address their needs.
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Let the tweets speak for themselves:
Inside the room: Police say they're at a capacity of about 1,000. More still waiting outside. pic.twitter.com/fMF2IAtZdr
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
At the #Chaffetz town hall, loud boos inside that hundreds of protesters outside aren't allowed to fill these back seats: pic.twitter.com/WYhIk6cLot
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
#Chaffetz is on stage starting now. Again, police say about 1,000 inside — hundreds loudly protesting outside who couldn't get in.
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
Chaffetz tries to cool the crowd down after shouts he didn't answer the first question. "Relax, relax," #Chaffetz says. The crowd boos.
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
About this turnout: The first dozen people I interviewed at the #Chaffetz town hall said they'd never been to one before.
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
HUGE cheers — then a "do your job!" chant — when #Chaffetz is asked why he's not conducting oversight on Trump to match Clinton's. pic.twitter.com/CfzUgKbJeH
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017
Auditorium for Cong Chaffetz Town hall packed. Police say 1000 outside. Now chanting, "You work for us!" @UtahIndivisible @IndivisibleTeam pic.twitter.com/R9iDakiWrZ
— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) February 10, 2017
.@jasoninthehouse says if you don’t like Betsy DeVos then you’ll like his bill to defund Dept of Education. CROWD BOOS. #utpol
— Kyle (@heydudekyle) February 10, 2017
A grade-school girl just brought the house down at Chaffetz's UT town hall with this question: "Do you believe in science? Because I do."
— Elana Schor (@eschor) February 10, 2017
Chaffetz calls it off 40 minutes early. #chaffetztownhall
— Richard Preiss (@richardmpreiss) February 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/829893343782043648
Oh, my. That did not go so well! Slate has more details of the disastrous town hall:
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz was home in his district Thursday night to hold a town hall at a high school in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. It did not go well. The crowd well exceeded the auditorium’s 1,000-person capacity and the event kicked off to chants of “kick him out!” (re: Chaffetz) mixed with “let them in!” (re: the some 1,000 person overflow crowd locked out of the event). The crowd that did make it inside roiled with anger, asking pointed questions on the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act, violence against women, Chaffetz’s refusal, as the GOP chairman of the House oversight committee, to investigate President Trump’s apparent conflicts of interest and Russian election meddling, as well as his stated desire to sell off local public lands.
At one point, Chaffetz told the crowd: “You’re not going to like this part: the president, under the law, is exempt from conflict of interest laws.” Late in the meeting, a young girl brought the house down when she asked Chaffetz: “Do you believe in science? Because I do.” Chaffetz gamely answered questions for about an hour before heading for the exit. Outside, as the town hall wrapped up, protesters chanted “bring him out!” and “this is what democracy looks like!”
Here is teh entire event as posted to YouTube:
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