Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)
One of the key ways House Benghazi Czar Trey Gowdy has manipulated the whole Benghazi investigation story is by being very, very selective about which information comes out of his committee. Things that might make Hillary Clinton look good are kept as close secrets, while a steady flow of leaks comes from the committee's Republicans. But now, with the erosion of Gowdy's public image thanks to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy pointing out that the Benghazi Committee's goal is to attack Clinton, that whole information-management thing is getting a little harder. Especially in the days after Gowdy released an email that failed to redact the name of a Libyan official who had cooperated with the CIA. (Oopsies!)
Right now, the battle is over documents Gowdy plans to release before Clinton's Thursday testimony, which the State Department is Not Happy about:
“We do not agree to these documents being released to the public outside of the Freedom of Information Act process……It is the Department’s position that these documents are not appropriate for public release,” State said in an unsigned memo to the panel Saturday.
“However, in recognition of the Committee’s stated intent to publically [sic] release them, this production reflects our best efforts—within the limited timeframe allowed by the Committee, to redact any sensitive information that could damage national security, subject any people or US facilities to harm or damage, interfere with any law enforcement activities, or result in an unwarranted intrusion of personal privacy,” the memo said.
Gowdy's position is that he can and will release whatever he damn pleases. Which might sound like a win for transparency if Gowdy wasn't so secretive about other documents and transcripts, and if his partisan motives weren't so much more transparent than any document release could ever be.