Jason Chaffetz

Chaffetz's father was Jewish, and his paternal grandfather Maxwell (Max) Chaffetz (1909–1986), the son of immigrants from Russia, was an FBI Special Agent.

Max Chaffetz was the brother of Hammond E. Chaffetz, who pioneered federal antitrust prosecution policies later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., before building Kirkland & Ellis into one of the most powerful law firms in the United States, as well as the second cousin of Washington, D.C. real estate developer and philanthropist Morris Cafritz.

His father, John A. Chaffetz (1935–2012), was a businessman, and his mother, Margaret "Peggy" A. Wood (1942–1995), was a Christian Scientist who later became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and ran a photography business.

Jason E. Chaffetz (born March 26, 1967) is an American retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for UT's 3rd congressional district from 2009 until his resignation in 2017.

In the late 1970s, his father became involved with the ownership group of the Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team.

His father later wrote Gay Reality: The Team Guido Story, a book about a gay couple who competed on The Amazing Race.

His younger brother, Alex, runs a Colorado-based media consulting firm.

Chaffetz's father's first wife was Kitty Dukakis (née Dickson), who later married Michael Dukakis, future Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee.

The relationship between Chaffetz's father and Kitty Dukakis lasted four years and produced Chaffetz's elder half-brother John Dukakis (born John A. Chaffetz), who was later adopted by Michael and Kitty Dukakis.

While in college, Chaffetz worked as a Utah co-chairman of Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign.

Chaffetz attended high school in California as well as Middle Park High School in Granby, Colorado, followed by Brigham Young University on an athletic scholarship, and was the starting placekicker on the Brigham Young University football team in 1988 and 1989.

Over two seasons, Chaffetz converted 16 of 25 field goal attempts (64 percent) and 89 of 94 point-after attempts (95 percent).

Chaffetz graduated from the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications in 1989, with a B.A. in communications.

Raised Jewish, Chaffetz joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during his college years.

In 1989, he met his future wife Julie Johnson at a wedding in Arizona when he was a senior and Julie was a junior at Brigham Young University.

Chaffetz became a Republican after meeting Ronald Reagan in 1990, when Reagan visited Chaffetz's employer, Nu Skin, as a motivational speaker.

However, his political views had been drifting more to the right even while working for Dukakis.

They married in February 1991.

After college, Chaffetz worked for about a decade in public relations for a multi-level marketing company, Nu Skin International.

In 2003, Chaffetz applied to be an agent in the United States Secret Service but was not accepted because "better qualified applicants existed".

In 2004, Chaffetz was the campaign manager for Utah gubernatorial candidate Jon Huntsman.

Huntsman won the race, and when he took office in January 2005, Chaffetz became Huntsman's chief of staff.

In 2005, Chaffetz started Maxtera Utah Inc., a corporate communications and marketing company.

In 2006, Chaffetz was appointed by Huntsman as a trustee for Utah Valley State College.

Chaffetz has also served as a member of the Highland City planning commission and as chairman for the Utah National Guard adjutant general review.

On January 1, 2007, before the 110th Congress was sworn in, Jason Chaffetz announced that he was "testing the waters" for a Congressional run against six-term incumbent Chris Cannon, for the Republican nomination in the 3rd District.

Nine months later, on October 1, 2007, Chaffetz formally entered the race for the Republican nomination.

That same day, David Leavitt issued a press release announcing his campaign had raised $100,000 to challenge Cannon.

Leavitt, brother to popular three-term Utah governor and Bush Administration cabinet member Mike Leavitt, more than doubled Chaffetz in fundraising for that quarter.

A March 2008 Deseret News/KSL TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates released two days before the party caucuses showed Chaffetz with 4% support.

As reported in 2009, Chaffetz remains close to his half-brother and the Dukakis family.

As of 2011, he still held the school's individual records for most extra points attempted in a game, most extra points made in a game, and most consecutive extra points made in a game.

He chaired the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2015 until 2017.

Chaffetz came to prominence in 2015 for his extensive investigations into Hillary Clinton.

In 2015, the Secret Service Inspector General found that agents illegally accessed Chaffetz's personnel file that included that information after Chaffetz began heading investigations into the Secret Service.

He rescinded his endorsement of Donald Trump in early October 2016 but expressed his intent to vote for him three weeks later.

Having investigated Clinton and the Obama administration extensively, Chaffetz drew criticism after the 2016 election for declining to investigate potential conflicts of interest relating to President Donald Trump, and that of other individuals involved in his 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent presidential administration.

He resigned from office in 2017, six months into his fifth Congressional term, and has since been a commentator, Fox News contributor, and author.

In 2021 Chaffetz joined the Government Accountability Institute.

Chaffetz was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in California, Arizona, and Colorado.