Former Congressman Jason Chaffetz on Monday questioned why the president's family is being called before a Senate committee, suggesting that Republicans "call up Chelsea Clinton" in response.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, also a White House adviser, will be questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday about his meeting with a Russian lawyer.
"Republicans need to get a backbone," Chaffetz said on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning. "Every time the Democrats say they need to call up Jared Kushner or Don Jr. — call up Chelsea Clinton, call up the Clintons."
Trump has decried the suggestion of collusion between his campaign and Russia, and on Sunday questioned his former opponent Hillary Clinton's own ties to the country.
"There we have an inspector general who issues a report stating an actual crime. You have Bill Clinton, the former president, taking millions and millions of dollars from countries, that Hillary Clinton is going in and then doing business," Chaffetz told Fox News on Monday.
"So every time a Democrat says 'I gotta talk to Donald Trump Jr.,' then go up and bring Chelsea Clinton in there," he continued, "because she was involved in the Benghazi situation, she was involved with the (Clinton) Foundation."
Chaffetz then said that while chair of the House Oversight Committee, he asked the deputy national security adviser for the previous administration to testify, but the administration cited executive privilege.
"I think the Trumps need to actually get a lot of credit for openness and transparency," he said.
Chaffetz concluded, "They would never, ever, ever do this to the Clintons."