Trey Gowdy Reportedly In ‘Discussion’ To Join Donald Trump’s Impeachment Defense Team
As President Donald Trump and his White House team seemingly begin to trench in for what appears to be a potential major impeachment battle with House Democrats, reports emerged on Tuesday that he’s talking to heavy-hitters to join his impeachment defense team.
According to The Hill, a member of Trump’s legal team is reportedly talking to former South Carolina lawmaker Trey Gowdy, known by the conservative media and his fans as “the bulldog” after he famously grilled former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the House for 11 hours over the Benghazi situation in 2015.
Though the White House hasn’t responded to The Hill for comment on the development, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said on Tuesday, “We are in discussion with Trey about joining our team.”
Drafting Gowdy to Trump’s impeachment defense team would likely be a fruitful move, as the fiery former lawmaker brings a wealth of experience to the table, including the inner-workings of House protocol and his resume that includes serving as the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Gowdy was also at the helm of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, a panel who took no mercy on Clinton and several other Democrats to determine what happened in the Libyan capital in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate.
The impeachment investigation ratcheted up another notch on Tuesday after Pat Cipollone — another Trump attorney — sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter informing her and other Democrats involved in the impeachment inquiry that the White House will refuse to comply with requests related to the investigation.
Citing a lack of validity due to the fact that a formal vote never took place to launch the impeachment inquiry, White House officials wrote off the Democrats’ attempt to impeach the president as a tactic to “overturn the results of the 2016 election” and claimed that Democrats violated rights afforded to the executive branch.
The letter came on the heels of a round of subpoenas that were sent to various Trump associates, including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Vice President Mike Pence.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Gowdy railed against Democrats in mid-September over their attempt to impeach Trump, calling their efforts a “disaster from day one.” That attack came after Rep. Jerry Nadler’s committee action to set the rules for an impeachment of Trump, which was before the Ukraine phone call situation was reported.
“You talk about mishandling something from day one, Nadler has mishandled — I mean, if we are debating nomenclature between an impeachment inquiry and an impeachment investigation, they’ve already lost,” Gowdy said at the time during an appearance on Fox News.
The Hill reported that a conflicting report came out later on Tuesday that made it unclear whether Gowdy had already agreed to take a spot on Trump’s defense team or if discussions were still in the works.
