One can’t help thinking that all the work Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has done as chairman of the Benghazi Select Committee over the past year was washed down the drain with a 10-second sound bite. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), considered the frontrunner to be the next Speaker of the House, suggested the creation of the committee helped siphon off Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers. It was a very poor choice of words that has somewhat discredited the committee’s efforts.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) called McCarthy’s remarks “absolutely terrible” and “inappropriate” shortly before announcing he’s running against him in the race for speaker. The Benghazi committee, he insisted, was formed with the sole purpose of finding out why more wasn't done to save four American diplomats on September 11, 2012.
Now Gowdy is the one breaking his silence over his friend’s damaging comments:
“Kevin is a friend, which makes the disappointment, frankly, even more bitter. If faith tells you to forgive somebody…” Gowdy trails off. “It’s tough,” he says after a moment. “People should go by what we’ve done. How many people have we interviewed? How many of those people have been named Clinton?”
McCarthy’s apology, Gowdy continued, doesn’t amount to much:
“How many times can somebody apologize? Yes, he’s apologized as many times as a human can apologize. It doesn’t change it. It doesn’t fix it. The only thing you can say is, instead of listening to someone else’s words, why don’t you look at our actions?”
Those actions include launching a thorough investigation and holding several hearings grilling government officials over the policies and decisions that may have led to the overseas tragedy. These efforts on behalf of the committee are all documented here. Gowdy’s commitment to discovering the Benghazi truth is evident considering he has rejected calls to run for speaker of the House to focus solely on his committee work.
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Clinton will appear before the Benghazi committee later this month as Gowdy and company demand some answers about the State Department’s failure to keep our diplomats safe. Hopefully McCarthy's comments will amount to no more than a forgotten gaffe.
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