Fox News just hired US Rep. Jason Chaffetz as a correspondent

Impact

United States Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), one of the most powerful and staunch conservatives on Capitol Hill, already has a new job lined up after he officially quits his current one on Friday.

The former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee officially will join the Fox News team as its newest correspondent, the network announced via press release Wednesday.

In his new role, Chaffetz will provide political analysis for both the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.

Who is Jason Chaffetz?

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Chaffetz's served as both campaign manager and chief of staff for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. before his first successful bid for Congress in 2008.

Chaffetz lost a bid for House Speaker in 2015, when Huntsman maligned him as a power-hungry, self promoter three years after Chaffetz chose not to endorse his former boss during his 2012 White House bid, throwing his support behind top contender Mitt Romney instead.

Chaffetz's 2015 consolation prize was being appointed as reform committee chairman, where he became a bigger thorn in the side of then-president Obama. He investigated the former president's role in the FCC's net neutrality decision, and even wrote a bill that specifically targeted Obama's pension, according to Vanity Fair.

Democrats criticized Chaffetz in February after he declined to investigate president Donald Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

In March, after Republicans promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Chaffetz told CNN that low-income Americans should forego buying iPhones to afford their own healthcare costs.

But even Chaffetz couldn't resist taking a shot at the President Donald Trump on his way out the door earlier this month. He reluctantly criticized the Trump administration's non-compliance with congressional oversight requests.

"The reality is, sadly, I don't see much difference between the Trump administration and the Obama administration," Chaffetz said during a Sinclair Broadcasting Group interview.

"I thought there would be this, these floodgates would open up with all the documents we wanted from the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Pentagon," he added. "In many ways, it's almost worse because we're getting nothing, and that's terribly frustrating and, with all due respect, the attorney general has not changed at all."

Incoming Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is set to replace Chaffetz on the House reform committee after he officially steps down on Friday.