Chaffetz Says Town Hall Attendees Meant To ‘Bully And Intimidate’ Him

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 24: Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, conducts the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting to organize for the 115th Congress on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ ... UNITED STATES - JANUARY 24: Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, conducts the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting to organize for the 115th Congress on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) claimed on Tuesday that attendees at a town hall he held earlier in February wanted to “bully and intimidate” him with “continuous yelling and screaming.”

“I thought it was a bit over the top. I thought it was intended to bully and intimidate,” Chaffetz said in an interview with “Kilmeade and Friends” surfaced by CNN’s KFILE.

He said that his constituents are “welcome to come yell and scream” but said that he has won his last four elections “by the widest margin of anybody playing at this level.”

“They’re welcome to come to the meeting, but I thought it was a bit over the — it just — the continuous yelling and screaming and not allowing the dialogue,” Chaffetz said. “I went there so I could hear dissent and have a discussion about the issues, but that’s not what they were interested in.”

Hundreds of people turned up to a town hall event Chaffetz held earlier in February, where the crowd grilled him on investigating President Donald Trump and chanted: “Do your job!”

Outside the town hall, more than 1,000 people waited to be let in and engaged in chants like “Chaffetz is a coward,” according to KUTV.

Chaffetz claimed that the protesters were part of “a paid attempt to bully and intimidate” him and are a “very, very small minority.”

Republican lawmakers home in their districts for the week during the congressional recess faced large crowds and vocal criticism at town halls on Tuesday. Constituents and protesters gathered at public events and outside local appearances by members of Congress.

Chaffetz held a town hall on Tuesday at a local high school, but does not appear to have any other public events scheduled during Congress’ recess.

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