Trey Gowdy goes off the deep end after his old committee targets Donald Trump
As Palmer Report has been reporting, the House Judiciary Committee came out with a list of eighty-one organizations and individuals who have received document requests, with notable absences such as Ivanka Trump. The right is now crying a river that this is unfair and a waste of money and time.
Loudest of the critics is none other than Trey “Benghazi” Gowdy. When he was the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee in 2015, he interviewed Hillary Clinton for 11 hours regarding Benghazi. Gowdy had the audacity to state this yesterday: “What we learned this past week is how utterly useless public congressional hearings are. I think two closed-door sessions this past week on the Senate and House side with the intelligence committees were very helpful. That is why they’re bringing Cohen back.”
He also noted: “Let me ask you this: What serious finder of fact can you name that identifies information in five-minute increments and does it on television and flips from one side to the other? Grand jury doesn’t do it. Your local sheriff doesn’t do it. The United States attorney doesn’t do it.”
Trey Gowdy is correct about that. However, for him and other past and present GOP members of Congress to be complaining about the nature of House investigations, which involve names and matters that have been determined in the eyes of grand juries and trial juries and judges to be real crimes, is preposterous. The Republican Congress held four years of Benghazi hearings with eight different investigations, and found nothing. In fact, Gowdy later quietly admitted the investigations were politically motivated. In this instance, we have many criminal charges, many guilty pleas, and more to come in the near future. Trey and other GOP folks should sit tight and shut their “Gowdy damn” mouths.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.