On Tuesday Utah Senator Orrin Hatch removed a pair of glasses that he wasn’t wearing. The moment took place during a hearing with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen.
WATCH: Sen. Orrin Hatch removes a pair of glasses he’s not wearing pic.twitter.com/QXCCb4RHzn
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 16, 2018
As the footage ripped across the internet, the senator’s campaign office, known for its snark, responded on Twitter, joking that the octogenarian who has spent more than four decades in the Senate was just too chic for the rest of us.
“Oh you mean his invisible glasses from Warby Parker?,” said his official office account. “They’re new, you’ve probably never heard of them.”
Oh you mean his invisible glasses from Warby Parker? They're new, you've probably never heard of them. pic.twitter.com/pygTRwbJl7
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 16, 2018
Hatch’s office didn’t stop there, liking various replies to the video and offering additional clarification to the peanut gallery. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Senate Republican, plans to announce on Tuesday he will retire at the end of the year, rebuffing the pleas of President Trump to seek an eighth term and paving the way for Mitt Romney to run for the seat.
An announcement from Senator Orrin G. Hatch. #utpol pic.twitter.com/UeItaLjR3j
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 2, 2018
Mr. Hatch intends to announce his decision Tuesday afternoon via a video announcement, according to two Republican officials briefed on the plans.
Mr. Hatch, 83, was under heavy pressure from Mr. Trump to seek re-election and block Mr. Romney, who has been harshly critical of the president. But Mr. Hatch, who emerged as one of the president’s most avid loyalists in the Senate, decided to retire after discussing the matter with his family over the holidays. The veteran senator was also facing harsh poll numbers in Utah, where 75 percent of voters indicated in a survey last fall that they did not want him to run again.
Mr. Hatch’s decision comes just weeks after Mr. Trump signed a sweeping tax overhaul into law, a measure that the senator helped write as chairman of the Finance Committee. The bill represented something of a capstone to Mr. Hatch’s four decades in Congress and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, even deemed it as such last month in what was seen as a subtle effort to usher his colleague to the exits. – READ MORE
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In a blistering editorial, Utah’s largest newspaper urged Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — a seven-term senator and current president pro tempore of the Senate — to not seek re-election in 2018.
The Salt Lake Tribune named Hatch the “Utahn of the Year” for 2017, citing three key factors in its decision. The paper clarified that the title only signifies the Utahn who had “done the most” and had the largest impact on the lives of other Utahns, noting that it is not necessarily meant to be an honor:
- Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
- His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code.
- His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.
“Each of these actions stands to impact the lives of every Utahn, now and for years to come,” the editorial says. “Whether those Utahns approve or disapprove of those actions has little consequence in this specific recognition. Only the breadth and depth of their significance matters.” – READ MORE