Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said Friday that the Republican leadership did not aggressively push back against the FBI and others as they pursued their Russia collusion conspiracy against Michael Flynn and President Donald Trump.
In a discussion over the House Intelligence Committee transcripts released this week and the Department of Justice’s recent decision to drop Flynn’s case, Gaetz told Fox News’ “Hannity” it was “a failure of our Republican leadership” to not fight back by issuing subpoenas when “corrupt officials” sought to railroad Flynn and link Trump to Russia collusion.
Speaking of how Republicans acted when they controlled the House of Representatives and were hearing testimony from FBI and other officials to implicate Trump in a Russian collusion hoax, Gaetz described it as a missed opportunity. (RELATED: Rep. Jordan Calls On FBI Director To Explain Actions In Michael Flynn Counterintelligence Probe)
“I’m glad that you went through [Republican South Carolina Rep.] Trey Gowdy’s exquisite questions in 2017 [before the intelligence committee] to these corrupt officials. I guess my question would be, why was it then in late May of 2018 that Trey Gowdy went on [Fox News host] Martha MacCallum’s show and said that the FBI did exactly what all of our fellow Americans would’ve wanted them to do and it had nothing to do with Donald Trump?”
The congressman said it is obvious that neither of those contentions was true and that “Gowdy’s brilliant lawyering back in 2017, that we are only able to see now, proves those two statements untrue.” (RELATED: ‘Do You Know Anybody Who Trusts The Government Anymore?’: Tucker Carlson Blames ‘Official Washington’ For Russia Collusion Hoax)
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) speaks at a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing concerning Russian meddling in the 2016 United States election, on Capitol Hill, March 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Gaetz said “The number one question I get asked from Americans is why no one has gone to jail and been held accountable.” He contended that things could have been different, had Republicans acted.
“Unfortunately when [California Rep.] Nunes and [North Carolina Rep.] Meadows, and [Ohio Rep. Jim] Jordan, and I wanted subpoena power, it was [then-House Speaker] Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy that would not give us subpoena power,” he insisted.
Gaetz said when the Democrats controlled the proceedings, they “sent out hundreds of subpoenas” but “when we had control and could have run it into the ground, we did not send out a single subpoena. Not one — and that is a failure of our Republican leadership.”
In March 2018, Gowdy called for a independent investigator to examine the FBI.
