'What a class act!' Chaffetz says he'll pass on reading Clinton's book

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, in September 2016. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, in September 2016. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Jason Chaffetz, the former Utah Republican congressman, said he knows he is the subject of a widely circulated anecdote in Hillary Clinton’s newly-released memoir of the 2016 campaign, “What Happened.” But he doesn’t intend to read it.

“There is no possible way you could get me to read that book,” Chaffetz said Monday. “I read the cover and the question is asked and the question is answered in the same page: What happened? Hillary Clinton happened. You don’t need to know anything else. It’s just — it was a train wreck.”

Chaffetz, known for his relentless investigations into Clinton in his role as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, posted a photo of himself shaking hands with the former secretary of state on Inauguration Day with a less-than-gracious caption.

So pleased she is not the President. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues.

A post shared by Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) on Jan 20, 2017 at 12:31pm PST

In her book, Clinton hit back.

“We headed up the stairs to leave the platform and go back inside the Capitol, shaking hands along the way,” Clinton wrote. “I saw a man off to the side who I thought was Reince Priebus, head of the Republican National Committee and incoming White House Chief of Staff. As I passed by, we shook hands and exchanged small talk.”

“Later I realized it hadn’t been Priebus at all. It was Jason Chaffetz, the then-Utah Congressman and wannabe Javert who made endless political hay out of my emails and the 2012 tragedy in Benghazi, Libya. Later, Chaffetz posted a picture of our handshake with the caption, ‘So pleased she is not the President. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues.’ What a class act! I came this close to tweeting back, “To be honest, thought you were Reince.”

When asked if he knew he was mentioned in the book, Chaffetz laughed and affirmed that he had “seen that in the news.” (Political figures are known for giving books the “Washington read,” standing in a bookstore, flipping through the index, looking for their own names.)

Addressing the apparent case of mistaken identity, he added, “Nobody but nobody has ever thought that I was Reince Priebus.”