Gowdy promised to bring prosecutorial gravitas to the Benghazi investigation (Gowdy is a former federal prosecutor) but he’s only kept the accusations of a political charade alive with his fundraising habits. And that’s where the toughest internal competition appears to be shaping up. Sitting Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is hoping to succeed Boehner in the top spot, and likely won’t face much competition for the gavel.
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John Boehner’s so unhappy with both Scalise and Tom Price, neither one of whom has been a major thorn in the leadership’s side, that he felt obliged to try to draft Trey Gowdy into the race? Huh.
As the Washington Post noted Tuesday afternoon, it’s been a whirlwind week for Gowdy. The chief of Putin’s administration, Sergei Ivanov, has also previously said that airstrikes would be used only “in order to support the Syrian government forces in their fight against the Islamic State”. While Gowdy’s workplace is denying the 2016 retirement announcement, The Hill’s Scott Wong reported in that “half his colleagues did interpret Gowdy’s comments to mean he was leaving Congress”.
The fundraising arm of House Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee, welcomed Gowdy as chairman of the special Benghazi select committee with an email the day after his appointment encouraging supporters to “become a Benghazi watchdog” by donating to the NRCC.
“He appreciates the confidence of his colleagues and looks forward to tonight’s conference discussion”, according to the statement.
But his rise to such a position would signal that a battle for the soul of the Republican party had indeed shifted to the right, where squabbles over Benghazi and an Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal have frustrated establishment conservatives in intransigent Washington. And then I said…
Conservatives want Gowdy to run for the job of House majority leader.
GOP leaders are expected to meet later Tuesday night about the leadership slots. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C.
Today, the news is even more dire.
But when asked late Tuesday whether he’s running for majority leader, Gowdy answered: “I’m not”.
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He said the one Republican who apparently didn’t, Fleming, called him and apologized for the mistake.
