U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz told a packed auditorium that he wishes Donald Trump had released his tax returns, but it is not required under the law.
The statement came Thursday evening after a woman attending a town hall asked the Republican congressman why he hasn’t opened up an investigation into the president’s taxes.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee’s statement was met by boos and people holding up red signs that said, "DISAGREE" in a high school in a Salt Lake City suburb.
Chaffetz faced a litany of sharp questions and screams from a crowd of people who grilled him on everything from President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act to the Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah.
Hundreds of people chanted, "Vote him out," as they tried to get into the packed town hall.
At the same time, the many people crowded inside the auditorium stood up and chanted, "Let them in."
The main complaints among the crowd at a high school in a Salt Lake City suburb were that the Republican is not doing what is best for the state’s natural resources and that he needs to investigate President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.
Holly Cobb Robinson from Salt Lake City said repealing the monument would result in more drilling and mining for coal, which would destroy the land.
"Protecting your public lands provides a better future for not only communities and people who are visiting, but also habitats and revenue," she said.
The town hall comes as the congressman spends time in his home state, visiting with Muslim leaders and speaking to the state’s lawmakers.
The Republican congressman, a Mormon speaking to a group of mostly Mormon state lawmakers on Thursday, said, "We should know a few things about being a religious minority."
He encouraged lawmakers to visit mosques and reach out to Muslims in their community, noting that those "people that have been vetted."
Chaffetz also criticized comments a top Trump aide made on national cable television to promote Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, calling remarks from Kellyanne Conway "absolutely wrong."
Conway used a Thursday morning Fox News interview from the White House briefing room to urge people to "go buy Ivanka’s stuff." The presidential aide was reacting to news that a department store had dropped the clothing line.
Chaffetz cited the comments Thursday when Utah lawmakers asked him if he’d use his role as the powerful chairman of the House Oversight Committee to investigate Trump’s business interests.
"Of course I’m going to call that out. My job is not to be a cheerleader for the president," Chaffetz said.
Chaffetz also said he hopes Trump will repeal the newly-named Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, something he discussed with the president during a Tuesday meeting at the White House.
Chaffetz told Utah lawmakers that Trump immediately raised the issue of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which has blistered Utah Republicans and locals since it was declared two decades ago.
The congressman did not say whether the president indicated if he would repeal or adjust either monument, both of which Utah Republicans and locals contend are overly broad.
Chaffetz said Trump’s Interior Secretary nominee, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, wants to see Bears Ears before making any commitments about what, if anything, the Trump administration will do.
President Barack Obama named the monument in December after several years of lobbying from a coalition of Native Americans who said the protection was needed for the sacred tribal lands.
The congressman’s packed day of Utah visits came a day after he met with Muslim leaders in Salt Lake City, where he said that Trump’s ban was rushed but singled out the "the right countries."
Muslim leaders told the congressman that people stuck in refugee camps aren’t safe and that the ban caused great anxiety among Muslim-Americans.
Chaffetz said he empathizes and if Trump imposes a "religious litmus test," he’ll push back.
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