Free from the burden of reelection, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina has suddenly been struck by a strange syndrome that always finds GOP lawmakers too late: a penchant for accuracy and facts.
As the Washington Post's Dana Milbank wondered: “What has Trey Gowdy been smoking?”
Indeed. Gowdy has spent the last handful of days doing interviews that have driven a stake through the heart of Donald Trump's fabricated 'SPYGATE' conspiracy theory that the FBI embedded a spy in this campaign.
On “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday, Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, dismissed the notion, propagated by President Trump, that the FBI had a “spy” in the Trump campaign. He said the FBI did what it “should have done” and that informants such as the one used by the FBI are used “all day, every day by law enforcement.”
Gowdy told Fox News on Tuesday that, after a classified briefing on the subject, “I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do.”
Earlier, Gowdy took issue with his fellow Republicans’ claims that Russia didn’t try to help Trump win the election, saying it was “clear based on the evidence” that Russia sought to defeat Hillary Clinton. And he didn’t join other Republicans in their categorical claim that there was no Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
Gowdy is the only House Republican who has had the opportunity to review key documents related to nearly every effort by Reps. Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows and others to claim Trump has been unfairly targeted by the FBI investigation into his campaign.
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In every instance, Gowdy has broken with his colleagues' assertions that the probe is improper, that Russia didn't interfere on Trump's behalf, and that the House Intelligence report fully vindicated Trump (Gowdy said they didn't have access to as much evidence as the special counsel will).
Gowdy has now joined other retiring Republicans who are increasingly venturing into the truth zone, including Reps. Thomas Rooney, Charlie Dent, Ryan Costello, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the ever-conflicted GOP senators, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker.
So apparently, one of the main criteria of running for office as a Republican is either lying to your constituents or at least not bothering them with the truth.
Former House Speaker John Boehner offered this insight into the GOP’s takeover by the lie-ridden Trump.
Exactly. And Boehner should know.