GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who spearheaded the Benghazi probe, unexpectedly announces his retirement from politics
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C) announced Wednesday that he will not run for re-election in 2018. Gowdy has served as the representative for South Carolina's fourth congressional district since 2011. In June, he replaced former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Gowdy rose to prominence as the head of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, leading a nearly two-year probe into the deaths of four Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. In a statement announcing his decision, Gowdy said that he would be leaving Capitol Hill to return to his former life as a lawyer. "Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress," he wrote. "I enjoy our justice system more than our political system."
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