Chaffetz: Gowdy has done 'wonderful job'

By Sarah Westwood, Sarah Westwood

Published December 20, 2015

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform, said he thinks Rep. Trey Gowdy has done a "wonderful job" leading the investigation into Benghazi.

"Trey Gowdy is first class," Chaffetz told the Washington Examiner in an interview Thursday. "He runs a professional organization."

The Utah Republican acknowledged the fact that tensions on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which Gowdy chairs, have reached a boiling point.

"Sometimes there's more flailing and demonstrable exercised waving of the arms when Democrats don't have much material to work with," Chaffetz said. "It's just intended, I think, in the Benghazi committee, to be a bit of a distraction from the actual truth and facts. That's my own personal opinion."

His comments came midway through a contentious hearing with Hillary Clinton Thursday, during which Gowdy and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee's top Democrat, clashed over how to conduct the panel's interview.