Republicans have come under fire for using the select committee to investigate Benghazi as a way to fundraise for the 2014 elections, but Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the Republican leading the select committee, tried to turn the attention toward Democrats on Sunday.
“My friend and colleague Tommy Cotton from Arkansas did a magnificent job on the House floor of pointing out the duplicity and hypocrisy of Democrats all of a sudden concluding that certain things are above politics,” Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“They raised money on Sandy Hook. They raised money on Katrina. They raised money on Iraq and Afghanistan,” he continued. “So for me, I will not raise money on Benghazi, just like I never raised money using crime victims while I was a prosecutor. And I’ve asked my colleagues to follow suit, but it would be helpful if our colleagues on the other side of the aisle did not have selective amnesia when it comes to what’s appropriate to raise money off of and what is not.”
Gowdy called on his colleagues to refrain from fundraising off the select committee almost immediately after he was chosen to lead the investigation. However, the National Republican Congressional Committee had already sent out a fundraising email referencing the committee.
