Page 13 - HOSPITAAL

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 1 February 2018

GOP congressman who led the Benghazi probe will leave House

By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep.
Trey Gowdy, a powerful
GOP watchdog who built
his name leading the in-
vestigation into the 2012
attacks against Americans
in Benghazi, Libya, has be-
come the latest prominent
Republican to head for the
exits rather than run for an-
other term.
The former South Carolina
prosecutor who is chair-
man of the House Over-
sight and Government Re-
form Committee said in a
statement Wednesday that
he planned to return to the
justice system, though he
did not elaborate.
The committee’s lengthy
investigation into the at-
tacks that killed the U.S.
ambassador and three
other Americans focused
heavily on Hillary Clinton’s
role as secretary of state,
though an 800-page report
produced no smoking gun
pointing to wrongdoing by
her. The investigation also
revealed that Clinton used In this Dec. 7, 2017 file photo, House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., speaks during a House Judiciary
a private email server for hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gowdy says he will not seek re-election.
government work, prompt- Associated Press
ing an FBI investigation that
proved to be an albatross pect of being term-limited investigation into Russian release of a memo, draft- cluding some that ended in
in the Democrat’s 2016 from that post or difficult re- election interference and ed by Republicans, that al- death sentences.
presidential campaign. election prospects. any possible coordination leges abuses of the govern- South Carolina’s top feder-
Today, Gowdy is involved in Gowdy did not have such with Donald Trump’s presi- ment surveillance powers al prosecutor slot is techni-
one of the House’s Russia in- obstacles, which made his dential campaign. in the Russia investigation. cally open.
vestigations and the leader decision all the more sur- In the committee’s private Democrats have called the It’s now occupied by a
of a renewed review of the prising. interviews, he has been the memo a “distraction” and career prosecutor serv-
FBI and Clinton’s emails. “Whatever skills I may have chief questioner for major- a selectively edited group ing as acting U.S. attor-
Gowdy, 53, was elected in are better utilized in a court- ity Republicans and has of GOP talking points. ney for more than a year.
the 2010 tea party wave room than in Congress, relied on his prosecutorial Gowdy’s love for the le- But Wednesday’s deci-
that returned control of and I enjoy our justice sys- experience. gal system is evident even sion prompted no such
the House to Republicans. tem more than our political Among those witnesses in the naming of his fam- announcements from the
He is the ninth House com- system,” Gowdy said. were the president’s son, ily dogs, Jury and Bailiff. state’s two senators, who
mittee head to step down, Gowdy has played an im- Donald Trump Jr., former Gowdy was as an assistant would propose a replace-
although several departing portant role in the House White House chief strategist federal prosecutor in South ment candidate to the
colleagues faced the pros- Intelligence Committee’s Steve Bannon and Glenn Carolina for six years before Trump administration.
Simpson, a Washington op- winning election as solicitor GOP Rep. Steve Stivers
position researcher who covering part of the state’s of Ohio, chairman of the
was behind a dossier of al- conservative northwest. campaign committee that
legations about Trump and Elected to three terms, oversees Republican elec-
his ties to Russia. Gowdy earned a reputa- tion efforts in the House,
This week, Gowdy was tion as a hard-charging predicted that Gowdy’s
among the committee lawman who prosecuted seat will stay in Republican
linda.reijnders@cspnv.com members pushing for the a wide range of cases, in- control in November.q