In a stunning turn of events, yet another senior House Republican chairman is throwing in the towel and announced he will not be seeking re-election.
The widely despised Rep. Trey “Benghazi” Gowdy (R-SC) will be leaving politics and returning to his legal practice. His departure brings the number of Republican committee chairmen to step down this year to nine, the latest in an unprecedented flight of cowardly lawmakers who have just sold out the American people on behalf of the oligarch class and are now crawling away to reap their rewards.
Gowdy is notorious for assuming the role of lead inquisitor during the Republican Party’s witch-hunt against Hillary Clinton, first over the 2012 militant attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, and then over the contents of her private email server.
Never managing to actually find any evidence of wrongdoing, he did succeed in wasting millions of taxpayer dollars chasing conspiracy theories, an endeavor he did not neglect while serving as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee under President Trump after replacing the retired Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
Just last week, Gowdy went on FOX News and announced that he had evidence that FBI agents involved in the Trump-Russia probe referred to a “secret society” in text messages ostensibly in the possession of Republicans.
This was later revealed to have been a private joke between the agents, who were having an affair behind the scenes.
The retirement opens up another seat and a new opportunity for Democrats, albeit in a heavily Republican district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1987. Gowdy swept his last challenger with 67% of the vote.
Sadly, an even scarier prospect has arisen – a seat on the South Carolina 4th Circuit Court of Appeals opened up literally the day before Gowdy announced his retirement – and his name has been long floated as a possible nominee to the judiciary, given his past law experience.
Gowdy will certainly not be missed by anyone on our side of the aisle, and we hope his retirement from politics is permanent.
Here’s the text of his retirement announcement:
There is a time to come and a time to go. This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system. Full statement here → pic.twitter.com/7I8AApqvs1
— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) January 31, 2018
