SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah has announced he will resign from Congress on June 30, raising questions about the probe of President Trump’s ties to Russia.

The Republican said in a letter Thursday to his constituents that he and his wife have agreed “the time has come for us to move on from this part of our life.”

The statement does not mention the investigation he’s overseeing as the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s chair into President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.

The letter also doesn’t mention Chaffetz’s future plans, including a possible run for Utah governor.

Chaffetz says the reality of having spent more than 1,500 nights away from his family over eight years has hit him harder than before.

He says he and his wife will be empty nesters soon and it seems like time to Chaffetz has demanded that the FBI hand over memos and notes that Comey reportedly compiled after meetings and phone calls with Trump. Earlier this week, Chaffetz tweeted that he had invited Comey to testify at a hearing set for next week.

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Chaffetz said last month that he would not seek re-election in 2018 and that he was considering leaving office early.

Chaffetz has vowed to get the memos Comey wrote about his meeting with Trump in which the president allegedly asked him to shut down the FBI investigation into ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey was fired last week as the FBI was investigating whether Trump’s presidential campaign associates had colluded with Russia to influence the outcome in his behalf.

“If this memo exists, I need to see it right away,” Chaffetz told The Associated Press in a phone interview earlier this week, adding, “If we need a subpoena, we’ll do it.”

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.


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