Politics

Chaffetz: Trump’s Administration Isn’t Very Different Than Obama’s

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Departing Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz is disappointed that President Donald Trump’s administration has not been responsive to congressional oversight requests.

Chaffetz, the former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said that Trump’s administration is almost worse than the previous one when it comes to responding to oversight requests from Congress.

“The reality is, sadly, I don’t see much difference between the Trump administration and the Obama administration,” Chaffetz said Sunday on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.

The Oversight Committee requests documents, communications and testimony from executive agencies at will to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.

Chaffetz, who will leave his House seat at the end of June more than a year before his term expires, said that he was disappointed that Trump’s administration hasn’t been more forthcoming when responding to requests from the committee.

“I thought there would be this, these floodgates would open up with all the documents we wanted from the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Pentagon,” Chaffetz said.

Chaffetz also said that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has not been as responsive as he expected when it comes to providing the committee with documents from the Department of Justice.

“In many ways, it’s almost worse because we’re getting nothing, and that’s terribly frustrating and, with all due respect, the attorney general has not changed at all. I find him to be worse than what I saw with Loretta Lynch in terms of releasing documents and making things available,” Chaffetz said.

“I just, that’s my experience, and that’s not what I expected,” Chaffetz said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, recently called out the Trump administration for its policy of ignoring oversight requests from individual members of Congress. (RELATED: Grassley Tears Into White House For Ignoring Democratic Oversight Requests)

South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy will replace Chaffetz as chairman of the Oversight Committee. Gowdy is famous for leading the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

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