If Boehner's motivation was to denigrate the committee, he should never have chosen Trey.
Mr. Gowdy is a bulldog. Glad he's from my state.
Trey
Gowdy
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Posted on 05/11/2014 8:16:23 AM PDT by smoothsailing
May 10, 2014 - 11:22 pm
WASHINGTON — The lawmaker chosen to lead the House panel investigating the 2012 Benghazi tragedy is an unabashed supporter of the Tea Party movement who still considers himself more of a prosecutor than a professional politician.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) was tabbed to fill the chairmanship of the newly formed select committee to investigate the State Department’s handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Several House and Senate committees have been delving into the events surrounding the attack and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had exhibited reluctance about forming a special committee. He decided to proceed on May 2, asserting that the White House is so “intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the people’s House.”
“Four of our fellow citizens were murdered, and a facility emblematic and representative of our country was attacked and burned on the anniversary of 9-11,” Gowdy said. “Our fellow citizens are full well capable of processing the truth about the attacks and aftermath, and most assuredly entitled to hear it.”
Twenty months after the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attacks, Gowdy said, unresolved questions remain about inadequate security, the U.S. response and the government’s interaction with the public after the attack.
“All of those lines of inquiry are legitimate and should be apolitical,” Gowdy said. “Facts are neither red nor blue.”
The House on Thursday voted 232-186 along party lines, Republicans forming the majority, to investigate all policies, decisions and activities that contributed to the attacks on U.S. facilities in Libya and affected the ability of the U.S. to prepare for the onslaught. The committee also is empowered to look into the Obama administration’s efforts to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators and gather information related to lessons learned from the attacks.
“This resolution equips the select committee with the scope and tools necessary for the seriousness of this investigation,” Gowdy said after the vote. “We are charged with a clear mission — uncover all the facts and provide answers to the American public. While people are free to draw different conclusions from the facts, there should be no debate over whether the American public is entitled to have all of the facts. As chairman, my goal is to conduct an inquiry that is rooted in fairness, is fact-driven and worthy of the trust of the American public, regardless of one’s political affiliation.”
The choice of Gowdy to lead the special committee is interesting from several perspectives. The lawmaker and Boehner, who plucked Gowdy from the ranks of the 233 GOP members of Congress to lead it, are not considered close. Gowdy told Politico in May 2012: “I don’t know the speaker well.”
While Boehner is viewed as representing the Republican Party establishment, Gowdy has a reputation as a conservative bomb-thrower, earned as a result of his frequent vituperative questioning of Obama administration officials at committee hearings. Gowdy is a darling of the Tea Party, a movement that scorns the speaker as being too willing to compromise.
Gowdy has not always, in fact, followed Boehner’s lead. He was among those who lined up to oppose Boehner’s proposal to end the debt limit crisis in 2011 and wound up voting against the final agreement. He was a frequent attendee at a dinner group that featured Republicans with Tea Party ties, fellow lawmakers like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), where they discussed ways to force the GOP leadership to be more forceful in pushing the party’s agenda.
But in appointing Gowdy, Boehner characterized him as being as “dogged, focused and serious-minded as they come.”
“His background as a federal prosecutor and his zeal for the truth make him the ideal person to lead this panel,” Boehner said. “I know he shares my commitment to get to the bottom of this tragedy and will not tolerate any stonewalling from the Obama administration.”
Gowdy carries “the confidence of this (Republican) conference,” Boehner said, adding that the lawmaker’s “professionalism and grit will earn him the respect of the American people.”
But choosing Gowdy opens Boehner and the select committee to charges that they are staging something less than the “apolitical” investigation Gowdy promised since he already has drawn conclusions and publicly stated his views about the administration’s actions related to Benghazi.
On May 5, during a House Oversight & Government Reform Committee hearing, Gowdy cited a State Department email regarding Benghazi, stating “this is Sept. 12, Mr. Chairman, this is well before the administration began misleading the American people.”
Furthermore, citing an email from Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, to Susan Rice, the former U.N. ambassador and current national security advisor, seeking to shape the way she addressed the Benghazi situation, Gowdy said: “The goal was to do everything we can to deflect attention away from this feckless foreign policy we have in the Middle East that isn’t working.”
On May 2, before the Boehner appointment, Gowdy told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News that he holds evidence of “a systematic, intentional decision to withhold certain documents from Congress” regarding Benghazi and what he views as an ongoing White House cover-up.
Such statements have not escaped the attention of the House Democratic leadership, which is weighing the possibility of simply boycotting the special panel by refusing to appoint members of the minority.
In a letter to Boehner dated May 6, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, of California — whom Gowdy once described as “mind-numbingly stupid” during an appearance on a Fox News show — and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, of Maryland, maintained that “more than a new chairman is needed to correct the obvious deficiencies in this partisan Republican oversight. What is needed is a fundamentally different approach.”
“If you truly want this new select committee to be bipartisan and fair – and to be taken seriously by the American people – we call on you to reconsider this approach before bringing this measure to the House floor for a vote,” Pelosi and Hoyer said. “Another partisan review that serves only to politicize these attacks is disrespectful and unworthy of the American people.”
But House Republicans expressed confidence that Gowdy can conduct a probe, in Boehner’s words, “to investigate the attack, provide the necessary accountability, and ensure justice is finally served.”
“I can think of nobody better than Trey to spearhead this effort,” said House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, of Virginia. “Trey is trusted among his colleagues and is a man of great integrity. His background as a prosecutor will be an enormous value as he and his fellow committee members seek out the facts of what happened in Benghazi, Libya, and how the administration responded to that terror attack. After years of obstruction, it’s time the American people finally get all the answers and Trey will ensure that happens.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, the panel that has most extensively looked into the Benghazi attacks, said Boehner “could not have chosen a member more committed to getting the full truth about the before, during and after of the Benghazi terrorist attacks than Congressman Trey Gowdy.”
“Trey has been an integral contributor to the Oversight Committee investigation and takes the knowledge we have gained, through subpoenas and individual testimony, to his new role leading the new select committee,” Issa said.
Harold W. “Trey” Gowdy III, 49, was born in Greenville, S.C., but grew up, and still resides, in Spartanburg in the northwest corner of the state. He’s a 1989 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he was a member of the scholastic honor society.
Gowdy maintained a private law practice until 1994 when he entered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina as a federal prosecutor, handling cases that ranged from narcotics trafficking to bank robbery to child pornography. In 1997, he and a colleague prosecuted the first federal murder case in the Upstate of South Carolina in over a quarter century, gaining the conviction of Tommy Pabellon and Bob Harry Fowler for killing a federal witness. Both were sentenced to life in prison.
During that tenure, he also received the United States Postal Inspector’s Award for his successful prosecution of Mark J. Allen, one of “America’s Most Wanted Criminals” for a variety of charges including carjacking, armed robbery and escape. Allen is serving a federal prison sentence in excess of 50 years.
In 2000 Gowdy waged a successful campaign for solicitor in South Carolina’s 7th District, defeating a 16-year incumbent in his first attempt at political office. During his tenure, Gowdy started a Violence Against Women Task Force and a Worthless Check Program, enhanced and expanded drug courts, and implemented a Drug Mother Protocol designed to assist expectant mothers break the cycle of addiction.
Nine years later Gowdy announced a primary challenge to Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), who had angered conservatives despite a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union because of some late career votes, including his support for cap-and-trade legislation.
Inglis’ re-election effort drew five primary foes with Gowdy running well to the incumbent’s right. Gowdy finished first with 39 percent of the vote but was forced into a run-off with Inglis. He won the run-off with 70 percent of the vote and went on to defeat his Democratic opponent in the fall 63 percent to 29 percent. He breezed to a second term in 2012.
Gowdy is married to Terri Dillard Gowdy. The couple has two children and three dogs – Judge, Jury and Bailiff.
Despite serving in Congress, Gowdy considers himself more of a prosecutor than politician. He is reputed to have never lost a case.
In 2011, during an appearance before a conservative group at Furman University, Gowdy insisted that he is an “unabashed” supporter of the Tea Party movement but he rejected being called a Tea Party congressman.
“My response to all of that is I am enthusiastically supportive of what the tea party has done,” he said. “If you want to see where I am, look at my voting record.”
Hard to tell, did Boehner choose him because he thought the investigation would crash and burn, taking the Tea Party down with it?
Or was he chosen because Gowdy will actually begin to uncover the truth?
Just look at how the Democrats are carrying on. They're terrified of Gowdy, as they should be.
“Hard to tell, did Boehner choose him because he thought the investigation would crash and burn, taking the Tea Party down with it?
Or was he chosen because Gowdy will actually begin to uncover the truth?”
Personally, I think Boner was forced to make this choice. In any event, he can’t put the genie back in the bottle now. Gowdy won’t kowtow to Boner. He has too much integrity.
Fantastic! Thanks for posting, I had not seen that!
Please post this as a main thread topic.
A broken clock is correct 2 times a day. Gowdy will do a GREAT job, IMHO. I think this is why the libs are so opposed.
Sounds like this inquiry is going a little deeper than Bhengazi....like why were we in Libya in the first place....so this isn’t just aimed at Hillary...it’s aimed at our dictator.
Just watched 30 seconds of fat candy crowley with the head of the demonRATS, the fugly jap from Florida, and she is scared spitless of Gowdy, name calling and denying any wrong doing...but mistakes were made...really.
Michelle Bachmann was the pubbie rep and beat them over the head with one true line...Four American citizens were MURDERED and no one has been arrested...why not?
You can be assured that at this very moment demonic-rat opposition research teams are trying to find any dirt they can on Gowdy. It will be much like what they did to Sarah Palin. Also as with Sara Palin, if they can not find any dirt, they will invent the dirt, tell the lie and proclaim it as the truth.
GIVE THEM HELL GOWDY!!!
If Boehner's motivation was to denigrate the committee, he should never have chosen Trey.
Mr. Gowdy is a bulldog. Glad he's from my state.
Trey
Gowdy
Ping!
Want on or off this ping list of 30+ (and growing) FReepers? Just drop me a FReep mail.
Benghazi deniers.
three dogs – Judge, Jury and Bailiff.
I’m a Cat Guy.
But this is all I need to know about Gowdy.
Sic ‘em Trey....
Blabbermouth Schultz is enough to give me migraines. After she blabbered on for as long as she could Michele Bachmann had had enough. By that time she’d been interrupted several times by not just Schultz but the rancid Crowley too.
Michele said:
“I think it’s important that this is a dialogue and not a monologue...It’s really clear that the Democrats have tried to sabotage this process from the very beginning. We shouldn’t do that when we have questions about four people who’ve died. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this, and not politicize it. And unfortunately that’s what’s been happening with the Democrats.”
http://www.youtube.com/v/TcjFPQkn0qI
Question for y’all: Is “solicitor” the equivalent of a district attorney? A D.A is a countywide election.. what are “districts”??..Thanks
I can't answer the first question.
Districts have to do with voting. South Carolina currently has seven districts. We have a representative from each district. Trey Gowdy is one. My rep is Joe Wilson.
The number of districts, or reps, a state has depends in the state's population. For example, when I moved to SC in 2003, there were six districts. But over the years SC has gained population. Mostly Yankees fleeing blue states up north :) In 2012, as a result of the 2010 census, we gained another district.
More info here.
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