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South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night explained why he decided to remove himself from consideration for FBI director.
He said that whether he likes it or not, he has been in politics for years, and that the American people deserve an impartial FBI director, one who is “above reproach.”
“I think the country can do better than me, quite frankly,” said Gowdy. “But the reality is, in this current political environment, I am no more for being asked to chair one committee than I am the 20 years I spent in a courtroom,” said Gowdy, referring to his time serving as the chair of the House Select Committee that investigated the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“I think the country deserves a woman or a man who is devoid of political taint,” he went on. “Whether I like it or not -- whether I wish I could wash it off or not -- I have been in politics for six years.”
"I think I could be fair,” Gowdy continued, “but I don’t know that I could get the job and I don’t know that I could convince a sufficient number of my fellow citizens that I would be fair; and quite frankly they deserve an FBI director that is above reproach.”
Gowdy in a statement on Monday removed himself as a candidate to replace fired FBI Director James Comey.
He said that he shared with Attorney General Jeff Sessions that it is his “firm conviction” that he would not be the right person for the job. Gowdy added that the country deserves an FBI director “with not only impeccable credentials but also one who can unite the country.”
Congressman Gowdy was on a shortlist of candidates, alongside House Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), and former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
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