TSA union responds to Chaffetz accusations

The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) union on Friday responded to a Utah lawmaker who accused the security personnel of harassing him at Salt Lake City Airport this week.

An official for the agency's union told news outlets that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) chose to enter a line for a whole-body scan. The congressman previously accused an officer of harassing him because of his refusal to subject himself to such a search.

"Congressman Chaffetz was treated as any other passenger," American Federation of Government Employees membership and organization director Sharon Pinnock said. 

Chaffetz introduced an amendment, which passed the House in June, that would ban TSA workers from using the whole-body scanners as a primary search tool. The freshman Republican believes they are too intrusive.

"It does seem odd that Congressman Chaffetz would choose to use an image machine that he would like to see banned," Pinnock added. 

Chaffetz, who also objects to the TSA's ability to unionize, remained defiant after the union's response.

"It's laughable that they would say I would choose to go through that line. Why would I do that?" he said. "This adds to my suspicion that they are harassing based on my bill against whole-body imaging, and my vote against allowing the TSA to unionize."