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  • 2017-04-24 (xsd:date)
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  • Chaffetz to Resign Due to Sex and Russian Money Laundering Scandals? (en)
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  • On 22 April 2017, a series of reports appeared with claims that House Oversight Committee chair and Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz may soon resign over a bevy of yet-to-unfold scandals: Chaffetz has made news in recent days for announcing he will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives in 2018. He then told a Utah radio station on 20 April 2017 he may take it a step further and leave office before completing his term. To date, he has remained tightlipped on his reasons for departure, but has adamantly denied any looming scandal. Still, the announcements have prompted curiosity and speculation. We reached out to Chaffetz's spokeswoman, M.J. Henshaw, who referred us to a 20 April 2017 comment Chaffetz made when asked by Politico whether a scandal was brewing: Because the stories are about events that have not occurred and is as a result complete conjecture, there is no way to verify the claims. They cite only speculation based on loose observations and hearsay by Twitter gadflies known for posting unsourced (but sensational) rumors. The story cites what it refers to as a Daily Kos article, which is, in fact, a post from a blogger, meaning that it was not written (or vetted) by any of the web site's staffers. The blogger cites only Twitter posts by Claude Taylor (a travel photographer who says he worked as a White House staffer and claims to have reliable sources that tell him items of lurid gossip, which he then posts to social media) and Louise Mensch, a former member of British parliament who also has aggressively taken to Twitter to post her theories on the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. It's unclear why Chaffetz wants to leave his post earlier than expected, but he has in the past expressed strong interest in running for Utah governor. In 2016, Chaffetz told the Deseret News: Legitimate publications like the Washington Post and The Atlantic speculate Chaffetz is trying to shield his future political ambitions from ongoing investigations plaguing the current Congress and administration. Per the Atlantic: That seems to be in line with the fact that his campaign has registered two web domains (Jason2028.com and JasonChaffetz2028.com) that The Hill reported could indicate a White House run in the future. It seems unlikely that if Chaffetz was expecting a set of scandals to break, his campaign would make moves to secure web domains for future political runs. But because the claims are about events that have not happened, and no evidence is offered other than supposed unnamed sources, there is no proof they are true. (en)
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