Former congressman Jason Chaffetz claims 'Deep State' is real in new book

Erin Kelly | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The former chairman of the House oversight committee has written a new book alleging a “deep state” conspiracy by federal employees to “protect” former President Barack Obama and “destroy” President Donald Trump.

The premise of the book by former Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz is spelled out in its lengthy title: “The Deep State: How an army of bureaucrats protected Barack Obama and is working to destroy Donald Trump.” It is scheduled to be released on Sept. 18.

"The Deep State is real," Chaffetz wrote, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. "They don’t like exposure, accountability or responsibility. They fight back, outlast and work the system for their advantage. And they certainly don’t like disruptive forces such as Donald Trump.”

The “deep state” is a conspiracy theory promoted by Trump and some congressional conservatives that alleges that employees of federal agencies and the military are secretly conspiring to control or manipulate government policy.

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Democrats and more mainstream Republicans have largely dismissed the conspiracy theory as nonsense.

Chaffetz resigned from Congress in June 2017 – about six months into Trump’s presidency - and took a job as a political analyst for the FoX News Channel and the FoX Business Network.

While in Congress, Chaffetz served as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from 2015 to 2017.

The committee is perhaps best known for its investigation of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans were killed in the attack, including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens.

The oversight committee was one of eight congressional panels that investigated the attack. Ultimately, lawmakers found evidence of inadequate security at the consulate but did not find any evidence to support allegations that the Obama administration had covered up or lied about what happened.

However, the investigations did uncover the fact that Hillary Clinton used a private, unsecured email server while she was secretary of State – a revelation that led to an FBI investigation that she believes damaged her 2016 presidential campaign. The FBI concluded its investigation shortly before the election without filing any criminal charges against Clinton.

“Without exposing Benghazi we might never have learned that Hillary Clinton was using her private email server to conduct government business and transmit classified information,” Chaffetz wrote. “Benghazi was a symptom of a much deeper problem at the State Department. Their decisions were based not on a security calculation, but on a political one.”

Chaffetz also uses his book to go after the Department of Justice – a frequent target of both Trump and the extremely conservative House Freedom Caucus.

“The DOJ should be protecting us,” Chaffetz wrote. “And yet it is the federal agency that stands head and shoulders above the rest in enabling the Swamp.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, said Chaffetz and other Republicans targeted the Obama administration but have refused to investigate anything related to Trump, according to the Tribune.

“Despite issuing a steady stream of far-reaching subpoenas during the Obama Administration, the Oversight Committee has essentially gone dormant under the Trump Administration, and Chairman Chaffetz’s successor has not issued a single subpoena to anyone, on any issue, ever,” Cummings said.