Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) (Screenshot of Fox News video)

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that he’s one of “an increasingly small group of Republicans” who don’t support an effort to curtail or end the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.



“There have been growing calls from some Republicans to end the Mueller investigation. Some people say he's too close to Comey and the FBI and that he ought to resign. Some people say that when the Mueller budget for the special counsel investigation is presented to Congress to review next month that they should cut off funding. Do you support any effort to either curtail or end the Mueller investigation?” Fox News host Chris Wallace asked.





“I don't,” Gowdy said, “and I readily concede, I'm in an increasingly small group of Republicans. I think Bob Mueller has a really distinguished career of service to our country. I don't think any of your viewers can think of a single thing he did as the FBI director that calls them to have a lack of confidence in him.



“I think most of our viewers have to be reminded that he actually was the FBI director or that he actually was a U.S. attorney, because he's a pretty apolitical guy. I see the reporting. I see the same thing you're making reference to that he and Comey are friends. I'm not really sure what the definition of that is,” he said.



“I've got a lot of coworkers that it wouldn't stop me from investigating them or prosecuting them. So, they're not family members. They weren't business partners. I would encourage my Republican friends -- give the guy a chance to do his job. The result will be known by the facts, by what he uncovers. The personalities involved are much less important to me than the underlying facts,” Gowdy added.



Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has called for a full investigation into Mueller, the Democratic Party, and the FBI.



"It turns out that Russia has sown distrust in the U.S. political system—aided and abetted by the Democratic Party, and perhaps the FBI," the editorial began. "This is an about-face from the dominant media narrative of the last year, and it requires a full investigation."



"Strip out the middlemen, and it appears that Democrats paid for Russians to compile wild allegations about a US presidential candidate," the editorial said. "Did someone say 'collusion'?"