Rep. Trey Gowdy Harold (Trey) Watson GowdySunday shows preview: Election integrity dominates as Nov. 3 nears Tim Scott invokes Breonna Taylor, George Floyd in Trump convention speech Sunday shows preview: Republicans gear up for national convention, USPS debate continues in Washington MORE (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that accusations of criminal offenses are not constructive to the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the United States presidential election.

“Doing television interviews and accusing one another of things is not constructive towards finding the truth,” Gowdy, a member of the committee, told MSNBC’s “For the Record with Greta.”

Gowdy’s comments come hours after President Trump in an interview with The New York Times said he thinks former President Obama national security adviser Susan Rice committed a crime by requesting that the identities of Trump transition team members be revealed in intelligence reports. He didn't give any evidence to support his claim.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gowdy said that he has not seen any evidence related to Rice.

“We won’t investigate crime, and Greta, I don’t like it when anybody accuses other people of committing crimes,” he told host Greta Van Susteren.

“When you accuse people of committing crimes, that’s serious. And it's not Congress’s job to investigate that, and it’s not my job as a member of Congress to level accusations like that," Gowdy added.

When asked about Trump’s comments regarding Rice, Gowdy said it is “as helpful” as comments made by fellow committee member Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas), who said on Tuesday he thinks Trump officials will go to jail at the end of the Russia investigation.

“About as helpful as when Rep. Castro said it this earlier morning,” Gowdy said. “This is a free country. You can say what you want to say. I would rather wait until the investigation begins and then is concluded and we talk to all relevant witnesses.”