Speaker John Boehner taps Trey Gowdy to head Benghazi select committee

BY DAVID M. DRUCKER | MAY 5, 2014 AT 2:06 PM 

House Speaker John Boehner named Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. to head a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate inBenghazi, Libya.

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, topped the list of Republican lawmakers Boehner was considering to head the panel. The South Carolina lawmaker won his seat in the 2010 election that returned the Republicans to the majority in the House thanks to a new group of Republican members elected with the help of the Tea Party. Gowdy is a top member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, aggressively questioning witnesses at several hearings the panel has held on the Benghazi attacks.

“Trey Gowdy is as dogged, focused, and serious-minded as they come,” Boehner said. “His background as a federal prosecutor and his zeal for the truth make him the ideal person to lead this panel. I know he shares my commitment to get to the bottom of this tragedy and will not tolerate any stonewalling from the Obama administration.”

Boehner announced Friday that the House would create a special committee to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. He pulled the trigger on the panel after a lawsuit filed by a conservative activist group forced the Obama administration to release copies of emails that it had failed to provide to congressional investigators.

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