S.C. LAWMAKER COULD BECOME NEXT HIGH-PROFILE TRUMP APPOINTMENT …
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy received a call from the administration of Donald Trump this week asking whether he was interested in becoming the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Gowdy’s answer? “Yes.”
According to multiple sources, the fourth-term congressman confirmed his interest in the position to the White House.
Obviously this wasn’t a job offer, it was merely the first step in gauging Gowdy’s interest in the position. Several other names have been floated as candidates for the nation’s top law enforcement post, which became vacant earlier this week when Trump fired former director James Comey (prompting full-on apoplexy from the far left).
But Gowdy is definitely in the running, as we reported earlier this week.
“He’s on the official short list,” a source familiar with the situation told us.
Regarded for months as a likely appointee to the U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals, Gowdy may instead wind up joining his close friend former U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as high-profile executive branch appointments. Haley was appointed by Trump to represent America at the United Nations, while Mulvaney was selected by the president to run the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
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Is Gowdy qualified for the FBI post? Absolutely. We may not agree with all of his congressional votes, but there’s no denying the Greenville, S.C. native is equipped with the skill set to lead this embattled agency.
Last year, the former state solicitor concluded a high-profile U.S. House investigation into the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack against an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. He’s also been among Comey’s most aggressive critics as it relates to the latter’s mishandling of the investigation into former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s extra-legal email server.
A native of Greenville, S.C., Gowdy was elected to Congress during the Tea Party wave election of 2010. He was reelected in 2012, 2014 and 2016 with only token opposition.
Speculation regarding Gowdy has been all over the map of late. Last year, many “Republicans” in the S.C. General Assembly had hoped he would consider becoming a candidate for chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court – while other rumors had him running for lieutenant governor of the Palmetto State on a ticket with U.S. Senator Tim Scott.
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