of Representatives and the second least partisan member of the House. On April 15, 2011, Jones was one of four Republican members of Congress to vote against The Path to Prosperity. In December 2012, Jones was one of four House Republicans removed from their committees by Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor for defying party leadership. Jones was removed from the Financial Services Committee, a plum seat for fundraising, ostensibly as reprisal for not raising money for the Republican Party. However, it was speculated that Jones, who was popular in the caucus, was only removed to give "cover" for the removals of Justin Amash of Michigan, Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and David Schweikert of Arizona who lost their own plum committee assignments, characterized as a result of them being "assholes". Representative Lynn Westmoreland concluded, "some people ... just don't want to work within the system." Jones maintained his seat on the Armed Services Committee. He is the author of Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act (H.R. 126;113th Congress). In February 2017, Jones signed a letter to urge Congress to request President Donald Trump's tax returns so that they can be reviewed in a closed session of Congress and determined whether the returns can be released to the public. On March 28, 2017, Jones became the first Republican Congressman to call for Representative Devin Nunes to recuse himself as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He cited the alleged impropriety of Congressman Nunes' meeting at the White House the previous week as the reason for breaking with his party on the issue. Foreign wars Jones was initially a strong supporter of the conflict in Iraq, but then became one of the leading Republicans opposed to continued involvement in Iraq. Jones became well known for leading the effort, along with GOP Rep. Bob Ney, to have French fries renamed "freedom fries" on House cafeteria menus as a protest against French opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Jones later modified his stance on the war to a considerable extent. In 2005, he stated that he had come to believe that there had been little reason to go to war, despite his earlier support, which had been based upon selective intelligence supplied to Congress. He said of his previous position on the