Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said Wednesday it was his commitment to enforcing the rules that forced him to throw his friend Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) out of a secret Benghazi hearing the day before.
On Tuesday, Issa, who spent years as the House Oversight Chairman digging into the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, tried to crash a secret deposition being held by the House Select Committee that is now investigating the attack. Issa was at the hearing briefly before being escorted out by Gowdy, the special committee’s chairman.
During an interview on Wednesday, host Bill Hemmer asked Gowdy about the conflict.
“What was going on there yesterday, and is everything okay between the two of you?” Hemmer asked.
“Oh, absolutely,” Gowdy said. “There’s a rule — it’s an obscure rule — if you’re not a member of a committee, you can’t attend a deposition. You can attend a hearing. You can attend other meetings. But you can’t attend a deposition. And it’s my responsibility to enforce the rules — even against friends.”
Issa was reportedly attempting to observe Sidney Blumenthal’s deposition before the House Select Committee in a closed-door session.
Blumenthal was answering questions about 60 newly-surfaced emails he exchanged with former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The attack resulted in the deaths of a U.S. ambassador, an information officer and two CIA operatives.
Watch below:
