Wait, Trey Gowdy is doing what?

| 4:31 pm EST February 15, 2018
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Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy, the notoriously hyper-partisan Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, shocked everyone on both sides of the aisle a few weeks back when he announced that he’s quitting politics after his current term ends. Right around this time, he stopped doing Donald Trump’s bidding in the Russia scandal and began singing the praises of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Now he’s doing something else shocking, and it’s not yet clear why he’s doing it.

Gowdy has had a consistent policy of aggressively and dishonestly investigating every real or imagined scandal involving the Democrats, while refusing to investigate anything the Republicans do wrong, no matter how bad it might be. So why is Gowdy suddenly inserting himself squarely into the middle of the Rob Porter scandal?

Gowdy is using his position on the committee to demand answers about why Porter was allowed to continue working in the White House even though multiple past accusations of domestic violence prevented him from being able to obtain permanent security clearance. Gowdy is specifically seeking information from the White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who appears to have been at the center of the Porter coverup, and the FBI, which handled the background check to determine Porter’s eligibility for security clearance. So what’s Trey up to? There are two schools of thought here.

This first is that, because Trey Gowdy appears to be trying to get a future job as a prosecutor or a judge, he’s auditioning for that role by trying to handle the Porter scandal in a judicious manner. The second is that Gowdy might somehow be trying to screw with the FBI on Donald Trump’s behalf. We wouldn’t put that level of villainy past him, based on his record. And we strongly distrust him. But really, he would have nothing to gain here by intervening on Trump’s behalf. It’s entirely possible that, only because it suits his own personal interests, Gowdy just happens to be doing the right thing for once. Stay tuned.