Chaffetz says he’ll vote for Trump

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) announced Wednesday that he will be voting for Donald Trump after dropping his support for the GOP presidential nominee earlier this month. 

“I will not defend or endorse @realDonaldTrump, but I am voting for him. HRC is that bad. HRC is bad for the USA,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

I will not defend or endorse @realDonaldTrump, but I am voting for him. HRC is that bad. HRC is bad for the USA.

— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) October 27, 2016

Chaffetz abandoned his endorsement of Trump after a 2005 tape publicly emerged in which the billionaire is heard making lewd remarks about women.

“I’m out,” he told Fox 13 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7. “I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president.

“It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine,” Chaffetz added.

But Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has long been a foe of Clinton. He said Wednesday that he expects years’ worth of further hearings on Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State.

Chaffetz was the first of several GOP congressmen who yanked their endorsement from Trump after the recording’s publication.

In the tape, Trump discusses his failed sexual advances on a married woman and brags about being able to kiss and grope women because of his celebrity. 

Trump has since repeatedly dismissed the clip as “locker room talk,” but multiple Republicans have condemned their party’s presidential nominee for the remarks. 

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), for example, vowed he would neither campaign for nor defend Trump ahead of Election Day. 

Eleven women have since accused Trump of kissing or groping them without consent before his entrance into politics. 

Trump has fiercely denied the allegations, accusing the media of fixating on them to boost Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Clinton, for her part, has used both the tape and the resulting accusations against Trump to charge that he demeans women.

Trump and Clinton’s polling numbers are tightening, however, at both the national and state levels before Nov. 8. 

Clinton leads Trump by about 5 points nationwide, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.