Ex-House Benghazi Investigator Says Committee Chair Rep. Trey Gowdy Broke The Law

Ex-Benghazi investigator Todd Podliska’s attorney is claiming that House Select Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-OK) has violated several federal laws.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber reported:

“Both Representative Gowdy and the committee have clearly violated terms of the confidentiality agreement and the Congressional Accountability Act,” said Peter Romer-Friedman, one of Podliska’s attorneys, to MSNBC on Monday afternoon.

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At issue in the new claims made Monday by Podliska’s lawyers are critical comments leveled by Gowdy about Podliska over the weekend, in response to the ex-staffer’s charge that the committee improperly targeted Clinton. Gowdy, the Benghazi committee chairman, told NBC News’ Kristin Welker that Podliska was a “lousy employee” who mishandled classified information, and that his criticism of the committee’s focus on Hillary Clinton only arose when he “was losing in mediation on his reservist claim.” That referred to Podliska’s claim that the committee retaliated against him for leaving the country to serve in the Air Force Reserves.

Gowdy tried to make the scandal go away by attacking the credibility of the witness, but in the process of smearing Podliska, he broke the law.

Republicans thought that the Benghazi Select Committee was their ticket taking down Hillary Clinton. What has happened is that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted that the investigation was a partisan political attack on Clinton. A Republican whistleblower who worked for the committee confirmed that the investigation was out to get Clinton. Chairman Gowdy (R-SC) and the House Republicans responded to these allegations by violating the law while trying to smear the whistleblower.

What was supposed to be a problem for Hillary Clinton has morphed into a scandal that is threatening to swallow the Republican Party. It was only yesterday that House Republicans were defending the integrity of Gowdy. Twenty-four hours later, their “man of integrity” is accused of violating multiple federal laws.

Republicans have finally found their scandal in Benghazi. Unfortunately, for them the real scandal involves the laws that are being broken by Republicans during their Benghazi investigation.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association