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In private meeting, Chaffetz and Trump talk Bears Ears, avoid topic of oversight

Posted at 5:26 PM, Feb 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-08 10:30:25-05

WASHINGTON — Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz met privately with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon, and Chaffetz’s office said the congressman led with the topic of rescinding Bears Ears National Monument.

But before Chaffetz was finished taking his seat, reports Politico, the president had already demanded that Chaffetz not talk about anything to do with oversight.

“Before my bum even hit the chair, the president said, ‘No oversight. You can’t talk about anything that has to do with oversight,'” Chaffetz told Politico.

Chaffetz is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which is currently looking into whether Trump’s presidency triggered a violation of the lease for his luxury Washington hotel.

Chaffetz gave White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus copies of two documents regarding Bears Ears National Monument. The first was a letter from Utah’s federal delegation to President Trump, in which the two U.S. Senators and four congressmen ask Trump to rescind former President Obama’s designation of Bears Ears National Monument. The letter states the move is unprecedented, but “well within the president’s authority.”

The second document was a copy of a resolution recently passed by the Utah Legislature, which also urges President Trump to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument designation.

Trump didn’t indicate whether or not he would rescind the designation, but he did ask for more information on the Bears Ears monument and the Antiquities Act, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.