Trey Gowdy: Darrell Issa’s Mini-Me?
Spoiler alert: Gowdy claimed to have evidence of a Benghazi cover-up just days before the evidence somehow disappeared – a tactic eerily reminiscent of Congressman Issa's behavior on the House Oversight Committee.
Check out this great disappearing act:
On May 2, Gowdy told The Daily Caller, Fox News, et al: "Well, I have evidence that not only are they hiding it, there is an intent to hide it," he claimed. "I can't disclose that evidence yet, but I have evidence that there was a systematic, intentional decision to withhold certain documents from Congress." [5/2]
That same day, after mounting pressure from the extreme, conspiracy-obsessed contingent in his conference, Speaker Boehner announced his intention to establish a Select Committee, claiming that the Administration is obstructing the truth.
On May 5, somehow the evidence goes missing.
Fox News'sGreta Van Susteren interviewed Gowdy about his claim of a cover-up: "You told me right here that you have evidence that not only are they -- meaning the Obama administration – hiding it but there is an intent to hide it." She then quoted Gowdy saying: ‘I can't disclose that evidence yet but I have evidence that there is a systemic intention to withhold certain documents from Congress.'Van Susteren: "Will we see those documents?"
Gowdy: "Yeah. Well, you know, I can't prove to you what I don't know. I don't know whether the documents have been destroyed."
Destroyed, really? But Mini-Me, just three days earlier you said you had the evidence.
Today on Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and the gang asked Gowdy about his evidence of a supposed cover-up. Fair question.
Halperin: "Congressman, I understand you said the other night that you had evidence of a cover-up involved in Benghazi. I'm wondering if you could explain what the nature of the cover-up is."Gowdy: "Uh, well I think that – that evidence has already manifested itself."
[…]
Brzezinski: "… There have been several investigations and there have been several reports already, and you still have questions. And so, I just want to know where the questions end and the actual evidence of a cover-up begins? Do you actually have evidence of a cover-up, or are you just suggesting there are questions that may lead one to believe that there might be cover-up? I just want to know black and white, was there a cover-up, do you have evidence?"
Gowdy: "… So, I know that folks like to use the word cover-up. I prefer to use the word evidence. I need all the evidence, all the documents, unredacted and I need access to all the witnesses and then you are welcome to draw whatever conclusions you want, an intent to cover up, negligence, a benign mistake, you can draw whatever conclusion you want, but you can't draw any conclusions if you don't have the evidence."
Seems like this new Select Commmitee will look a whole lot like the other hyper-partisan attempts to exploit the Benghazi tragedy. And rest assured, Congressman Gowdy will be doing his best Darrell Issa impression: lobbing unsubstantiated claims, making baseless accusations, and overreaching at every turn – all to advance a callous political agenda.