House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) announced on Wednesday that he will not seek reelection later this year.
Gowdy, a major player in the Benghazi investigations against Hillary Clinton, said he would “leave politics and return to the justice system” in a tweet on Wednesday afternoon.
“Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and enjoy our justice system more than our political system,” Gowdy said in a statement, later adding: “There is no perfect time to make this announcement, but with filing opening in six weeks, it is important to give the women and men in South Carolina who might be interested in serving ample time to reflect on the decision.”
There is a time to come and a time to go. This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system. Full statement here → pic.twitter.com/7I8AApqvs1
— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) January 31, 2018
Late last year Gowdy, along with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) announced that the House of Representatives was reopening an investigation into the FBI‘s handling of the Clinton email investigation.
More recently, Gowdy has been at the center of a conspiracy theory regarding the FBI and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Last week, Gowdy said he had seen text messages between two FBI agents that had previously sent disparaging texts about then-candidate Donald Trump that referenced a “secret society” that was out to undermine the president.
The “secret society” text, which was later reportedly believed to be a joke, quickly sparked conspiracy theories on the right. After a trove of messages were reported missing between the agents due to a technical glitch, they were later recovered.
