By Matt Rivera
NBC News
July 16, 2017
With 48 hours left in office, then-Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) sat down with Chuck Todd to talk about his time in Congress, the cost that his family paid for his tenure in Washington, and why he was leaving when his party was in power. The full interview is available in the latest 1947: The Meet the Press Podcast.
For some, serving in Congress can feel like toil. Many Representatives spend years working as junior members of a committee, or sit on the sidelines as members of a party that’s out of power. Chaffetz leaves at the top – he was the chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee, and he was a figure with a nationally recognizable name. So when he announced his retirement earlier this year, many suspected he had greater ambitions.