Retiring GOP Rep: Trump and Obama Presidencies Are Essentially the Same

Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz announced last month that he will be leaving the Untied States Congress at the end of June. But that didn’t stop the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee from taking a few parting shots at President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and fellow Republicans on his way out the door.

“The reality is, sadly, I don’t see much difference between the Trump administration and the Obama administration. I thought these floodgates would open up with all the documents we wanted from the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Pentagon,” Chaffetz told Sinclair Broadcast Group in an interview that aired on Sunday.

Chaffetz claimed that the Trump administration has actually been worse than the Obama administration when it comes to fulfilling oversight requests from Congress.

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

“We tried to issue subpoenas. We tried to hold people in contempt and the Obama administration said ‘no,’ and the Trump administration came in and did zero. Nothing. Nothing changed,” Chaffetz added.

The outgoing Congressman also took the opportunity to criticize fellow Republicans who he does not believe are doing a good enough job fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.

“The reality is, there aren’t very many people that want to play offense. There aren’t that many who say, ‘Look we have a duty and an obligation to fulfill the oversight responsibility that was put in place at the very founding of our country”.

[image via screengrab]