Trey Gowdy Is The New Chairman Of The House Oversight Committee

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...mmittee-to-chair-house-oversight-panel-239308

The Republican Steering Committee on Thursday backed Rep. Trey Gowdy to become the next chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The move — if confirmed by the full Republican Conference — would put the South Carolina Republican at the helm of a contentious probe into President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, is known for chairing the House Benghazi investigation and has also been a leading member of the Intelligence Committee’s probe of Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election.

Gowdy would replace outgoing Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who will resign at the end of June. Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) had also put his name in for consideration to replace Chaffetz.

House GOP leaders encouraged Gowdy to run upon learning of Chaffetz’s looming departure. He is a close ally of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on a panel composed of unpredictable Freedom Caucus conservatives with rocky relationships with leadership.

"Trey Gowdy possesses the experience and deep commitment to transparency and accountability necessary to be the House’s next Oversight chairman," Ryan said in a statement. "He has proven that he will always look out for taxpayers and seek answers from the bureaucracy."

Gowdy has also clashed with Trump, although he later served on Trump’s transition team. Trump once retweeted someone calling Rep. Trey Gowdy a “Benghazi loser” after Gowdy backed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the GOP presidential primary. Trump also accused Gowdy of being soft on Hillary Clinton over her use of an unauthorized email server.

It is unclear in what direction Gowdy will take his panel‘s part of the Trump-Comey investigation, which has quickly become one of the most contentious political scandals in modern American history. While the House and Senate intelligence committees have jurisdiction over Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election, questions of obstruction and how Trump might have tried to influence the probe fall more into Oversight’s purview, at least in the House.

Democrats worry that Gowdy will use the gavel to protect the White House or focus the investigation solely on leaks to the media that make Trump look bad. Democrats’ distrust of Gowdy stretches back to his work on the Benghazi probe, which they believe was a witch hunt against Hillary Clinton.

Republicans praise Gowdy as a top-notch independent investigator, and at least one White House aide has worried that he could become a thorn in Trump’s side.

POLITICO reported that Gowdy has made a conscious effort to shield himself from an appearance of being too closely tied to the White House: When the Trump-supporting Great America PAC donated $5,000 into Gowdy's campaign account in March, he returned the donation.

 

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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/336986-rep-trey-gowdy-wins-oversight-chairmanship

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) was chosen Thursday as the next chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Gowdy never officially announced a bid for the post, but he was considered a lock to get it ahead of the House GOP Steering Committee’s meeting Thursday where the decision was made.

"I am grateful to the Steering Committee and the Conference as a whole for this opportunity to serve," Gowdy said in a statement.

"I look forward to working alongside the other Committee members, as well as any member of Congress, as we discharge the jurisdiction assigned to us."

The former prosecutor is best known for his role leading the House select committee that investigated the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

The Benghazi panel played a key role in helping uncover that Hillary Clinton used a private email server while secretary of State. Gowdy led the panel for nearly two years until it closed down in late 2016.

Gowdy will now be tasked with oversight of the Trump administration, a position that could at times put him at odds with a president from his own party.

The outgoing Oversight chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), had already at times found himself investigating the Trump administration. He has looked into ex-White House national security adviser’s Michael Flynn’s paid speech in Russia and whether Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway violated ethics rules by promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.

Chaffetz also asked the FBI for copies of former director James Comey’s memos detailing interactions with President Trump. So far, the FBI has not provided the Oversight Committee with the documents.

Chaffetz is resigning from Congress at the end of June. Had he chosen to stay, he could have kept the Oversight gavel through 2020 under the House GOP's rules limiting chairmen to three consecutive terms.

The House GOP conference is expected to ratify the Steering Committee’s selection as soon as Tuesday. At that point, Gowdy would immediately take over as Oversight Committee chairman.

Gowdy’s takeover of the House Oversight Committee marks a swift rise in Congress since first winning election in 2010.

He’ll become chairman of one of the most powerful committees in Congress despite being only eighth in seniority on the panel.

Gowdy is leap-frogging multiple members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative hardliners who have repeatedly clashed with GOP leaders.

Many Freedom Caucus members favored Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who’s third in seniority. But Jordan himself acknowledged that his past tenure leading the Freedom Caucus made it unlikely he’d secure enough support on the GOP leadership-controlled Steering Committee to win the Oversight gavel.

Only one other Oversight Committee member announced a bid to succeed Chaffetz: Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.). But Russell was considered a long shot, especially given that he is 18th in seniority on the committee.

 

[dave]

Democrats not happy. For good reason.

 

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