mr. chaffetz: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: mr. chairman, h.r. 998 searching for and cutting regulation that is are unnecessarily burdensome, also known as the scrub act, was introduced by our colleague, jason smith. i happen to be a co-sponsor of this bill as well as the judiciary chairman, bob goodlatte, pete sessions, the rules chairman, the gentleman from texas. we rise in support of this bill, the scrub act, regulatory accumulation is the significant problem for the federal government. year after year federal agencies add regulation after regulation piling on to an already very complex and crowded regulatory system. the code of federal regulations, also known as the q.f.r., has some 178,000 pages. these are the regulations that you're supposed to understand if you're in a business, small business, big business, medium-sized business. it contains more than one million regulatory restrictions. and every year the federal

mr. chaffetz and connings together go to office of ethics to say what with the statement of kellyanne concay. we are not go it take the president's word for it. we have the trademarks that china reversed that are worth millions to president trump after years of denying the trademarks those are forbidden, foreign payments. the founders prohibited those. that court is also going to be asked to hold the president to account. so all of those days of judgment are coming for president trump. >> keep your eyes on norm. we certainly are. >>> up next why did the president bring up topic of nuclear holocaust at today's news conference. this is 11th hour. test this is 11th hour. >>> today's news conference while discussing relations with russia the president of the united states brought up the notion of shooting a russian spy ship and skuchd discussed what he learned about nuclear holocaust. >> the greatest thing i could do is shoot that ship outf the water. everyone is going to say oh, it's so great. it's not great. if russia and the united states actually got together and got a log and don't forget w

mr. chaffetz and connings together go to office of ethics to say what with the statement of kellyanne concay we are not go it take the president's word for it. we have the trademarks that china reversed that are worth millions to president trump after years of denying the trademarks those are forbidden, foreign payments. the founders prohibited those. that court is also going to be asked to hold the president to account. so all of those days of judgment are coming for president trump. >> keep your eyes on norm. we certainly are. >>> up next why did the president bring up topic of nuclear holocaust at today's news conference. this is 11th hour. the future of business in new york state is already in motion. companies across the state are growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will st

mr. chaffetz for his leadership and his patience and i thank my colleagues, mr. meadows, mr. lynch, and of course the ranking member, mr. cummings, especially for their hard work. on this very important endeavor. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. thank you both very much. i'd ask unanimous consent to enter the following letters of support into the record. the letter from the united post masters and managers of america. the coalition for 21st century postal service. a letter from the american catalog mailers association. a letter of support from harland clark holdings. and a letter from the national association of postal supervisors all in support. without objection so ordered. we will hold the record open for five legislative days for any member who would like to submit a written statement and i would also add qfr ds or questions for the record, we will allow five legislative days for those. if we have any of those, we would serve on this panel a very timely response to any inquiries that might come that way as well. we'll now recognize the panel of witnesses. we're

mr. chaffetz is the committee that oversees investigations into government waste, fraud and abuse.ey are talking about that potential avenue. mr. chaffetz requested the lease for the trump hotel for a few blocks down the road as now there are some questions about whether or not that is all legal and ethical and everything is tied up now that mr. trump is president trump. notably the white house did not list what that meeting was all about. we have jason chaffetz here at the white house. questions we hope to ask about betsy devos. you're right, that press briefing neil, set to begin in 45 minutes we believe. we'll be there. neil: quickly on the press briefings. you're in there now. new tone, new approach. skype reporters coming in from all over the country. how is that going down? they're raucous affairs. parodied on senate -- "saturday night live" and elsewhere. how is this going down? >> one thing helpful to the audience. people may not realize. there are 49 chairs. standing room only on the side. it is packed. if you're claustrophobic, at times it is claustrophobic in there. that

mr. chaffetz for his leadership and patience and i thank my colleagues mr. meadows, mr. link and of course the ranking member mr. cummins for their hard work on this very important endeavor. i yield back. >> thank you both very much. i'd ask unanimous consent to enter the following letters of support into the record. the letter from the united post masters and managers of america, the coalition for 21 century postal service, a letter from the catalog mailer association, a letter from support of harland clark holdings and a letter of national supervision all in support. without objection so ordered. we will hold the record open for five days for anyone that would like to add a statement. qfrs we will allow five legislative days for that and if we have any of those we will be submitting to those on this panel, we would expect and hope a very timely response to any inquiries that might come that way as well. we'll now recognize the panel of witnesses. we're pleased and honor to welcome the honestly megan brenn brennan. we have the honestly robert taub. we have ms. lori rick

mr. chaffetz, to co c cooperate with me.oesn't surprise me but it does concern me. >> should there be an independent investigation into the administration's ties to russia? >> i think that has taken care of itself. >> reporter: is your committee going to take any action on this? >> it really is the purview of the intel committee. they are the only ones that can look at that type of information. particularly when you're talking about interactions with a nation state like that. >> this is the same jason chaffetz who seemed ready to hound hillary clinton to impeachment even about her e-mail server and -- >> he doesn't want to touch donald trump. one thing he is failing to say, joy, is something i have asked him to do and that is to join congressman swalwell with regard to a bill that we have that would create an independent commission, no senators, no members of the house, but an independent 9/11-type commission to have findings to research this issue with regard to russia and our elections, to come up with findings and then pr

mr. chaffetz for his leadership and patience and i thank my colleagues, mr. meadows, mr. lynch for this hard work on this very important endeavor thank you and i yield back. >> i would ask you to enter the following letters of support into the record. from the united post masters and managering of america, the coalition of 21st senary postal service, catalog mailer association, har land clark. without objection so ordered. >> we will hold the record open for five legislative days for any member who would like to submit a written statement and i would also add qfrs for the record. if we have any of those we will be submitting though those serving on this panel we would expect and hope a very timely response to any inquiries. we will now recognize the panel of witnesses, the honorable megan brennan the post master general of the united states postal service, the honorable robert tobb, ms. lori -- at to the united states government accountability office. mr. arthur sacklsackle sackler, fredericklandorolando. we welcome you all and thank you for being here. i think you all te

mr. chaffetz's job too. i'm glad he joined me in this effort. i've been asking him literally for months now to look into these conflicts of interests, and he has refused to do so. so finally, he gets the textbook case and i think he had absolutely no choice but to join in. >> now she was clearly doing something after the president of the united states had slammed the department chain nordstroms for canceling its commitment to carry the product. so the president of the united states is doing it, and i understand he can do, on stuff like this, that the conflict rules do not technically apply to the president of the united states, but they do to his staff. but he certainly sets the tone, doesn't he? >> no doubt about it. this is becoming a pattern and it is interesting, andrea, that if you did this in several departments within the government, you can get anything from a five-day suspension to a, to actually losing your position, and so she should not be held to a different standard than other employees in the government, but you're absolutely righ

mr. chaffetz nor mr. nunez would have thought that had this been mrs. clinton in the same position. absolutely positive of that. it is not enough to say okay the national security adviser has resigned. we have here a pattern, not just a single incident of failing to disclose to his superiors, at least that's our supposition, that's what they say, that it wasn't disclosed, that he had talked about an ongoing matter of sanctions, sanctioning behavior that was adverse to the united states of america. and in effect one could draw the conclusion because the russians did not respond to those sanctions that they had been assured that they would be alleviated in the future. now, i don't know that. i'm just speculating that's the fact, but it is a very critically important question. and it's a critically important question as not only what the national security adviser did but what is the relationship between president-elect trump himself and russia and putin. >> the white house today said repeatedly, sean spicer said today repeatedly it was clear to everybody in the white house there was no

mr. chaffetz to launch an investigation? >> i think it would be something that is relevant.ong overdue. i think we should be asking for him to produce his tax returns. i think we should be looking into potential conflicts of interest. and i think we certainly should be looking into potential violations of the ethics code. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for that. president trump repeatedly calling out chicago for its surging violence. just yesterday he pointed the finger of blame on gangs for the city's crime. nbc's tammy leitner spent some time in one of the neighborhoods literally caught in the crossfire. >> some of the windows are still shot out. >> reporter: in this neighborhood on the west side vallerie williams has lost count of the dead. >> they die on the front porch. they die on the corner. they die right in the middle of the treat. >> reporter: you have seen all that? >> all of that. >> reporter: the shootings happen daily. >> that's not normal life. that is not the way you should live. we are not in some war torn, you know, place. i'm on my corner of my home h

mr. chaffetz to initiate this investigation in the house oversight committee. we need a full, transparent accounting of what happened. obviously, we need to closely guard sources and methods and classified information as appropriate, but you have to understand, you know this, more than half this country is now skeptical about the relationship between the trump administration and the russian government. what's happened recently with general flynn only adds fuel to the fire of all the conspiracy theories that are abounding. we need sun light on this situation. transparency. and that's why we need an oversight investigation. >> congressman, thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >>> coming up next, we'll hear from the family fearing an immigration hearing set for this morp t morning. the mother weighs her options. what if she decides not to show up for that aponpointment and wt her case means for others in similar situations. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is no

mr. chairman, you have made some statements. i ask you to give him the courtesy of a minute and a half to respond. rep. chaffetzno, i will not. rep. cummings: will the gentleman let me finish? thank you. this has been an attack on our democracy. mr. lynch is one of our greatest members. the passion that he has expressed is not limited to him. it is to many americans that feel as if all of our -- the things that underpin our democracy have been attacked over and over again. as i said yesterday, we keep saying we are going to wait until certain things happen with president trump. they are happening now. if the gentleman would give me 30 more seconds. all i am saying is i was hoping that -- i mean, as a courtesy to the gentleman, i wanted to respond -- wanted him to respond. rep. chaffetz: i would like to ask a question. does the ranking member believe this committee should do an investigation of the dccc? rep. cummings: i think we can look at some things. but what the gentleman is saying is look at things that are unclassified, and apparently he has reports in his hand, and we can see where we go from there. numb

mr. chairman, when you deal with integrity and transparency, it is like money in the bank. i would ask you to work with us and see what we can come up with. >> district chairman. rep. chaffetz: my last point, i do not think it is appropriate -- i disagree with the attack on the integrity of the intelligence committee. i think they are of integrity. i think mr. schiff and mr. nunez are men of integrity and run the committee appropriately area of i am sorry you don't -- run the committee appropriately. rep. cummings: you are putting words in my mouth. that is not accurate. i am not questioning the integrity of mr. nunez or mr. schiff. what i am saying is what the gentleman said, that we want a report. at the reportok and they see somebody on the transition team for mr. trump, then it becomes questionable. all i am saying is to the world -- that's why we file the bill that we filed, and that is why we are asking for more like an independent investigation. point, weetz: last have gone way past the time here. and i ask this rhetorically. do the democrats truly want this committee to do an investigation of the dnc and the dccc? rep. cummings: yes, we do. rep. lynch: a lot of thes

mr. farenthold. >> thank you, chairman chaffetz. and i want to shift a little bit of dollars and cents questions here. mr. roth, i know that in your statement you draw attention to wasteful acquisition programs. it's something we here in congress all the time how government spends a whole lot more money than it should acquiring things. and takes longer to deploy them and deliver less capability than promised. obviously you can look within the department of homeland security, the tsa and their puffer machines and warehouses full of equipment that either doesn't work, doesn't get deployed or both. what all are you all doing to reduce waste in acquisition? >> certainly one of the things we're doing is an increased emphasis on acquisition reform and acquisition auditing. that's what of the things we really didn't have the capability of say three years ago, and thanks to congress appropriating additional funds for more ftes we are able to actually focus on this issue more than we had before. so that's what aspect of what we're doing. the

mr. trump's still unreleased tax returns. chaffetz did manage to get a few cheers when he spoke out against kellyanne conway's promotion of ivanka trump's clothing line. >> they need to investigate it. with kellyanne conway, it's wrong. it should never happen again. >> that sentiment was shared by chaffetz' cow leagues on both sides of the aisle. >> i'm going to give a free commercial here. go buy it today, everybody. go buy it online. >> reporter: it was a sales pitch for the boardroom rather than -- >> this is a textbook violation of the federal ethics rules. >> chris lew is a former obama administration staff. he was told on day one an employee shall not use his public office for the endor endorseme endorseme endorsement. >> reporter: the republican chair of the oversight committee called conway's comments wrong, wrong, wrong, clearly over the line, unacceptable. the white house appeared to agree. press secretary sean spicer. kellyanne has been counseled and that's all we're going to go with. >> reporter: it comes a day after presi

mr. trump's still unreleased tax returns. chaffetz did manage to get a few cheers when he spoke out against kellyanne conway's promotion of ivanka trump's brand. >> we set a very candid, very direct letter to the white house and to the office of government ethics. they need to investigate it. what happened with kellyanne conway is wrong and should never happen again. >> that sentiment was shared by chaffetz' colleagues on both sides of the aisle. >> i'm going to give a free commercial here. go buy it today, everybody. go buy it online. >> reporter: it was a sales pitch for the boardroom rather than a briefing room. >> go buy stock. >> this is a textbook violation of the federal ethics rules. >> reporter: chris lieu is a former obama administration official who said his staff was told on day one an plea shall not use his public office for the endorsement of any product or for any friends. >> reporter: the republican chair of the oversight committee called conway's comments wrong, wrong, wrong, clearly over the line, unacceptable. the w

chaffetz. >> it appears mr.dn't want to take questions about general flynn who is under criticism with those contacts with the russian ambassador, perhaps misleading the vice president, as well. do you agree with nancy pelosi that his security clearance should be revoked pending the completion of the investigation? >> yeah, i think that's an appropriate action. but, george, there's something else that needs to be asked. that is -- did the president instruct general flynn to talk to the ambassador? and did he know about it? if he knew about this conversation, when did he know it? that, to me, that is the key question. and we need to find out what that answer is. now, keep in mind, that he really -- that is general flynn, put the vice president in a very awkward and a very sad position. to have him go out national media and say that these were just some casual conversations that had nothing to do with the sanctions and then for general flynn to be walking that back, that's not good enough. he is a national securit

mr. connolly, for working so hard to make this happen. chaffetz: thank you. mr. connolly. representative connolly: we talked about the 11th hour. i think it was the 11 and-a-half hour. i got more phone calls from senator carper the first half of the year then i think my wife would normally indoor. that being said, we are picking up where we left off, hopefully to get it across the finish line in a way that probably makes everyone happy and sad at the same time. that's the only way you get a good bipartisan compromise, is to make sure there is something for everyone to complain about and to brag about. that means said, i think it's incredibly important to recognize that if we do not act. -- if we do not act, this is really going to affect jobs. when you look at the backbone of the postal service is not just for those employees, but it's for the 7.5 billion jobs it represents direct lee or indirectly throughout our economy, and failure to act would also mean it would require a bailout on behalf of the taxpayer, something that i am acutely sensitive to and what to avoid if we

a lot more going on here and it's clear that trump and people like jason chaffetz are trying to cover it up. >> you're saying mrrump would have fired flynn immediately. no according to his press conference. he said if i had known about it i would have been fine with that. >> obviously he change s his story based on the day. earlier he said it was a lack of trust in flynn that led him tore fired. that's the reality with trump, a serial liar, unless the press and we here on capitol hill cut through that, we won't find the truth for the american people. we deserve the truth. we americans deserve the truth about what's going on between the trump administration and russia. and let's also not forget, if flynn becomes a distraction, it will take our eye off the bigger picture, which is what's going on with trump's tax returns. that's the thing -- that's the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about here. trump won't disclose his tax returns, the widely assumed reason for that is that because it will show ties to russia. financial ties to russia that have him beholden to putin. if he says that that's not true, th

many here said they were angry over congressman chaffetz support of the president and were upset about recent actions taken by mrump, including his attempt to ban travel for refugees from seven mostly muslim countries. a couple of other examples. california gop congressman tom mcclintock had to be escorted out of a town hall meeting saturday after rowdy protesters moved in on him. >> this is not what democracy looks like! >> heather: diane black was booed by planned parenthood supporters. others at similar events say they were worried about what was going to happen about the replacement of obama care. >> heather: there's a term for this. it's called astro turf. means people come in from outside their district. not to say some weren't from the member district. if you found out and others found out others weren't constituents after all. >> right. that's a big question here. we did start to hear about social media organizing that was happening before the event. and the salt lake tribune called this a largely liberal crowd. but salt lake city is a reliably democratic city. some of its suburbs do make up congressman

mr. chairman and we turn now to the top democratic on the house oversight. >> good to be with you over. >> dickerson: you called on jason chaffetz, to allow the committee to investigate michael flynn, the former national security advisor. where does that stand? >> he has been very reluctant to look at anything having to do with russia and their interference with our elections. as chairman nunes has said, they seem mohr anxious in looking for leakers than dealing with the issue of our elections being interfered with, which i think is phenomenal. >> dickerson: in terms of you look at the whole elections being interfered with or michael flynn in particular? >> i want to look at michael flip and any interference with our elections. john, we can't have people in russia taking over our elections. first of all, it takes away from the credibility of the elections, it makes people feel uncomfortable, that is the voters and we have to have the integrity of our elections. and they seemed very reluctant to do that a. >> dickerson: let me ask you about leaks. you wrote last year in august, you said reporters have an obligation to ask why the

mrs. conway is above the law. chris, this was a textbook case of violation. er is a low-hanging fruit. chairman chaffetz had to decide with me because this was a slam dunk situation. i have to tell you at some point, republicans and democrats in the congress have to check president trump. that's our job. >> i'm challenge this because i don't think it was somebody trying make the buck. >> no. >> i didn't like the fact jared kushner is nepotism law, le he is a son-in-law. he got in there. tell me about your view of trump. what do you think the general approach of democrats should be? >> i have said it over and over again i want our committee to have integrity. i want us to apply the roules t donald trump just as we would have to anybody else. when you begin to turn a blind eye to people who are violating the law no matter what their intention, the fact is there's a violation. chris, this is thing you have to think about, other employees in other departments can get anything from a reprimand to being fired. why should someone get counselling and go on your merry way. i'm saying -- >> congressman, i they're

mr. dahl, you're not recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. chairman chaffetz, ranking members cummings and members of the committee. for inviting me to testify today on the work of oig's. begin by highlighting a stark example of the value of our work and the importance of oig access to the information we need. in 2015, two students were killed at different department of labor job corps centers, both allegedly by their fellow students. student was shot and killed in his dorm room at the st. louis center. studentther case, the was brutally killed next to the florida homestead center, resulting in the need to 350sfer, relocate more than students. these tragic cases, and other serious incidents, make clear identified the safety and security at job corps centers as the top management the department. our auditors had previously data thatob corps revealed some centers had failed to report and investigate misconduct, including assaults, and drug abuse. review has identified additional concerns, problems with the centers interacting with law camerament, inadequate moni

mr. chairman for your indulgence. >> i thank the gentlewoman, you'll be pleased to hear that today chairman chaffetz and i are joining chairman chuck grassley to send a letter to the white house encouraging it to use whistleblowers as an ally to identify waste, fraud and abuse in mismanagement of the federal gast. government. we're suggesting that the white house clarify any confusion that may exist regarding various transition memos as they relate to the wpea or the antigag provision which senator grassley authored. these are issues that extremely important to those of us that are committed to making government work more effectively through the oversight process and we will ensure that whistleblower rights to communicate directly with congress are not impeded. with that i will recognize the vice chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from georgia, mr. hieft. >> thank you very much and thank each of you for being here. mr. bachman i think i heard you say and i'm not sure that you really meant this but you said everyone in government wants to deal with waste, fraud and abuse. i'm not so sure that that's an accura

investigations, the fact that chaffetz is a pretty, you know, party line republican, he's not john mccain or he's not a troublemaker or something like that, he co-signed that letter with mrmmings and calling for the investigation, i suppose to many critics, it's weak tea, but i thought that was significant. i also thought one of the things that happened that we didn't comment on in your montage there at the beginning. what the president's tweet attacking john mccain. mccain said something that annoyed trump and mccain annoys all presidents with, that's why he's a charming guy. trump instead of brushing it off, attacks mccain viciously in a tweet. he's giving comfort to our enemies by mentioning at this raid in yemen seems to not have gone as well as was hoped. john mccain is one of 52 republican senators. he's an important one of the 52. they only have 52. it takes 50 to get legislation passed. trump's behaving as if he has, you know, 25 vote margin in the senate, those guys are automatically going to go along with everything he wants. they're going to defend him when he's attacked, or he doesn't need them. you do need them if you're president of the united states. at so

mr. trump took office. did general michael flynn mislead the administration and potentially violate the law? >>> and do your job, chaos erupts at a town hall with house ov ov oversight chairman jason chaffetz. what is behind the anger boiling over in solid republican districts? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news. sources inside the trump administration are telling cnn the white house is considering issuing a revised or even a new executive order on travel. they say it would have more clarity and be more narrowly taylored than the order now frozen by the 9th circuit court of appeals. there is growing concern meanwhile inside the white house over a report that national security advisor michael flynn discussed sanctions against russia with the country's ambassador before mr. trump took office. sources say vice-president pence who previously vouched for flynn was relying on flynn's word there was no talk of sanctions. flynn now says he's unsure whether the topic was discussed. and republican lawmakers from two solidly red districts got an earful at town hall meetings from constituents voicing their anger.

tonight chaffetz and elijah cummings sent a letter to the office of government ethics saying conway should be disciplined, anything ranging from a reprimand to dismissal, but the white house says mr. trump continues to have confidence in conway. judy? >> woodruff: john, so we know the president has also been busy talking to a number of former leaders. >> that's right. every day this week he's been on the phone with foreign leaders. today he was scheduled to talk to the heads of afghanistan, qatar, kuwait and iraq. starting tomorrow he's got a flurry of face-to-face meetings, tomorrow japanese prim shinzo abe will be here and travel to mar-a-lago for a weekend of golf. on monday, justin trudeau, prime minister of can dark and on wednesday, prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel. >> woodruff: john yang at the white house, we thank you. >> cornish: in the day's other news, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan said thousands more troops are needed to help defeat taliban insurgents. general john nicholson testified before the senate armed services committee saying more trainers and support could help the afghan army break what he called "a stalemate." >> i have adequate resource