Here’s a Video of the GOP’s Next Top Obama Investigator Losing a Leg-Wrestling Match to Stephen Colbert

Next year, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) will take over the chairmanship of the House oversight committee, replacing the current chair, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), as the GOP’s lead investigator. Chaffetz’s position comes with a lot of power—he will be able to subpoena Obama administration officials, and his committee has investigative jurisdiction over nearly every imaginable scandal, from security lapses by the Secret Service to the US Postal Service’s ongoing financial problems. Benghazi is also likely to remain a high priority for the committee under Chaffetz—despite a report released last month by the GOP-run House intelligence committee that debunked nearly every conspiracy theory about the attack.

To better familiarize our readers with the incoming chairman, here’s a video of Chaffetz losing a leg-wrestling match against comedian Stephen Colbert in 2009:

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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