# Jason Chaffetz **Jason Chaffetz** (born March 26, 1967) chaired the [[House Oversight Committee]] from 2015 to 2017, through the 2016 campaign, and resigned from Congress months into the Trump administration to become a Fox News contributor and "deep state" author. ## Career A former BYU placekicker, Chaffetz was chief of staff to Utah governor [[Jon Huntsman Jr.]] from 2005. In 2008 he beat incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon in a primary, 60–40. ## Oversight chair Chaffetz chaired Oversight from January 3, 2015 to June 13, 2017. On October 7, 2016 he withdrew his Trump endorsement after the *Access Hollywood* tape; on October 26 he said he would still vote for Trump. In March 2017 he drew criticism for suggesting Americans might choose between an iPhone and health care, and later walked it back. ## Exit On April 19, 2017 he announced he would not seek reelection ("I have made a personal decision to return to the private sector"), and on May 18 announced he would resign effective June 30, 2017. He joined [[Fox News]] on July 1, 2017, and later became a fellow at [[Peter Schweizer]]'s [[Government Accountability Institute]]. His books are *The Deep State* (2018), *Power Grab* (2019) and *They Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste* (2021). **Current status:** not verified for 2026. ## RWKB angle Chaffetz traces a well-worn route: from congressional oversight into the conservative media-and-think-tank pipeline, where the [[Deep State]] framing is the product. ## See Also - [[Trey Gowdy]] - [[Government Accountability Institute]]