Interesting Timing In Chaffetz' "Retirement"

Jas Chaffetz has suddenly and surprisingly announced that he will not run for re-election in 2018. The Utah congressman and bane of Hillary Clinton's existence said his decision was not influenced by political or health factors. Chaffetz had already received a Republican primary challenger and a Democrat who had already raised $400,000 more than Chaffetz awaited him should he survive the primary challenge. In addition, Chaffetz' raison d'etre was no longer there as Trump had taken the White House. There was nothing left for him to investigate as head of the House Oversight Committee, unless he actually wanted to pursue the myriad of Trump scandals (ha! ha!).

But it does seem a little unusual to make this kind of announcement this far out from the next election. Announcements like these always fuel speculation and the timing of this announcement adds even more fuel to that fire. The area of speculation that is most intriguing is that Chaffetz himself has been caught up in the Russian hacking scandal. A recent story from the Palmer report stated that Chaffetz himself may be subject to blackmail by the Russians and the FBI has found out. According to the story and citing Louise Mensch who has been covering the Russian hacking scandal, "Mensch is suggesting that Russia has 'turned' Chaffetz to the point where it controls him, ostensibly ensuring that his committee will never investigate Trump-Russia". The Palmer Report also notes that the largest donor to the Chaffetz campaign is "an illegal pyramid scheme that does business in Russia". Of course, none of this can be corroborated at this time.

Another intriguing possibility that is not exclusive of Chaffetz being compromised by the Russians, is that he was colluding with the Russians and WikiLeaks in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. If the FBI has proof of that collusion, it could also be a reason for Chaffetz to agree not to run at this time in the hopes of avoiding prosecution. Again, there is no corroboration for this speculation either.