A few Democrats pounced on the accusation to argue that the Benghazi committee needs to be shut down.
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Gowdy also said in the NBC News interview that the reason Podliska alleged he was sacked for resisting pressure to focus his investigation on Clinton was because he “was losing in mediation on his reservist claim”.
According to MSNBC, the suit seeks to force Gowdy from repeating his narrative about the termination, which the suit alleges is a “serious crime” that has “ended the careers of many professionals in national security-related industries”.
Now, Podliska is back again, suing the panel and Chairman Trey Gowdy for responding to Podliska’s accusations in a way which he alleges defamed his character.
House Immigration and Border Security subcommittee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, November 19, 2015, during the subcommittee’s hearing to examine the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on the security of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The suit says that Gowdy falsely claimed that the termination was based on mishandling classified information, a charge that Podliska says is erroneous and notes that the staffer who originally made that claim later acknowledged that Podliska’s information was all from “sources on the Internet”. But Podliska says he never mishandled classified information, and is asking the judge to bar Gowdy from speaking publicly about his firing.
Podliska’s lawsuit brings more controversy to the House Benghazi Committee, which has come under fire by critics accusing Republican members on the committee of using it to damage the presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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The committee is tasked with investigating the circumstances around the 2012 terror attack on a USA compound in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
