GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina was offered a federal judgeship in 2017, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

“He is not planning on becoming a judge,” a source close to the congressman told TheDCNF. “He was approached months ago and turned it down.” The source added that he will return to private practice.

A White House official confirmed that Gowdy was approached for a seat of the 4th Circuit, but declined the offer. – READ MORE

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the current term and leave politics to return to work in the justice system.

A former prosecutor, Gowdy rose to prominence as chairman of a special House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the State Department’s response.

Trey Gowdy announces he will not be seeking re-election to Congress nor any other political or elected office. Gowdy will be returning to the justice system. pic.twitter.com/VflS2LdyEn — Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) January 31, 2018

“I will not be filing for reelection to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system,” Gowdy said in a statement. – READ MORE

Rep. Trey Gowdy said that the classified memo that some members of Congress have said details abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act under the Obama administration would be “embarrassing” to Intel Committee’s ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff.

“I think it will be embarrassing to Adam Schiff once people realize the extent to which he went to keep them from learning any of this,” Gowdy said. “That would be the embarrassment.”

“Today this committee voted to put the president’s personal interests, perhaps their own political interests, above the national interests,” the Democrat said, announcing the vote to the media. Schiff said the vote was strictly along party lines, with no Democrats voting to release the details of the memo.

“Look, my Democratic colleagues didn’t want us to find this information,” Gowdy said on Tuesday in response. “They did everything they could to keep us from finding this information.”

The committee also rejected the possible release of a Democrat-authored “counter memo.” – READ MORE

It may not be in President Trump’s best interest to speak to special counsel Robert Mueller because it’s not clear he’s going to get a fair jury due to congressional Democrats’ political machinations, Rep. Trey Gowdy said Sunday.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, there is a political component to it. Twice now, over 50 of my house democratic colleagues have voted to move forward with impeachment. Twice, before he has answered a single solitary question from Bob Mueller,” Gowdy said.

“The politics of it is, I don’t think he’s got a fair jury. I do think he has a fair investigator. I think he’s got a fair prosecutor in Bob Mueller, but he doesn’t have a fair jury and he’s going to have to decide whether the legal part outweighs the political party,” he added. – READ MORE