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House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) announced on April 19, that he won't run for office in 2018, amid speculations of higher political ambitions. Here's a look back at the rocky year Chaffetz has had since Trump took office. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

There are two House Republican chairmen tasked with possibly investigatingPresident Trump. One of them Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.) messed it up so badly that he had to step aside. And now the other is retiring from Congress.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz's retirement announcement Wednesday came as a surprise. Talk quickly turned to whether it was because liberals successfully berated him at town hall meetings, whether he feared a well-funded opponent in 2018,and/or whether he was just trying to get a head start on the 2020 Utah governor's race.

The last of these makes complete sense, as The Fix's Amber Phillips notes.But the first feeds into an emerging reality of 2017: Trump is giving the people charged with investigating him fits.

Because Republicans are in the majority, those people happen to be fellow Republicans. And that's creatingsome impossible choices.

Through Trump's reluctance to quash potential conflicts of interest and his penchant for making wild accusations and then pawning them off on investigators, jobs such as Chaffetz's House Oversight Committee chairmanship have become completely thankless. Less than three months into the Trump administration, Chaffetz was forced to repeatedly shrug off Democrats and watchdogs' calls for him to investigate Trump's possible conflicts of interest. He also had to answer for Trump's allegation that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election. He was even pressed to investigate Nunes's conduct, which led the House Intelligence Committee chairman to hand off hisRussia investigation.

The only investigation Chaffetz has actually leaned into, it turns out, was the one Trump really wanted him to: rooting out leaks in the federal government.

McKay Coppins sums it up well:

Even before Chaffetz announced his abrupt exit, his political luck had suffered a steep decline when Trump was elected. As oversight chairman, he was preparing to spend four years investigating President Hillary Clintons alleged scandals and misdeeds. Then the Republicans unexpectedly seized control of the White House, leaving Chaffetz with the unenviable task of policing his own party. It was a fraught job to begin with, and his casual attitude toward the Trump familys potential conflicts of interest demonstratedin his interview with melast month has only increased the pressure on him.

Aside from Trump and Clinton, one Utah Republican told me last month, nobodys fortunes changed more on presidential election night than Jason Chaffetz.

It's one thing to shrug off clearly partisan efforts to get you to investigate a president, and most presidents are careful to avoid doing the kinds of things that put you in that position. But Trump has no such compunction. He's not afraid to saddle you with investigating his wild, evidence-free claims. And not only that; he will gladly take you on publicly if you run afoul of him.

For Chaffetz and Nunes, that leads to decisions between giving in to extraordinary and in many cases, legitimate public pressure to investigate Trump and doing what your president and party want you to.

Nunes erred way too much toward the latter and paid the price. Andyou can bet an ambitious and smart politician like Chaffetz knows this whole thing is a lose-lose situation for him.

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Jason Chaffetz and Devin Nunes were both faced with investigating Trump. Now both are stepping aside. - Washington Post