House Benghazi panel chairman says Hillary Clinton 'not worth 18 months of my life'

Trey Gowdy says his Benghazi Committee isn&#039;t targeting Hillary Clinton

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

published 19 October 2015

When Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) was a district attorney, he got death threats, but "I would say in some ways these have been among the worst weeks of my life," he tells Politico, referring to recent charges that his House Select Committee on Benghazi is mainly trying to politically kneecap Hillary Clinton. "Attacks on your character, attacks on your motives, are 1,000-times worse than anything you can do to anybody physically — at least it is for me."

The credibility of his panel has mainly been undermined at the hands of fellow Republicans, amplified by the Clinton presidential campaign, but Gowdy said he thinks the attacks are an attempt to discredit the committee before Clinton testifies before it on Thursday. "I think that's just [the Democrats'] MO: If you can't attack the facts, you can attack the investigators... just attack, attack, attack, and something will take hold," he told Politico. "At some point, maybe something will stick, or maybe you get them off track or you get them to do or say something stupid, then you can seize on that."

Gowdy defended the work his committee has done and the secrecy it has worked under, saying he was never expected to lay out his plan of investigation when he was a DA. And Clinton is not the target of the investigation, he emphasized. "When I hear that 'it's about her,' it is so hard for me," he said, then addressed Clinton directly: "You are not worth 18 months of my life, with all due respect. Four dead people are, but you're not." You can read more at Politico.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.