Trey Gowdy Quotes

When people in positions of trust mislead us - either recklessly, negligently or intentionally - that impacts the republic.

I suspect that with men like General Petraeus, where honor means something - losing your life is secondary to losing your honor.

No law can give Congress a backbone if it refuses to stand off as the coequal branch the Constitution made it.

Benghazi matters because Americans deserve to know the truth from those entrusted to lead and govern.

What did Republicans get for 16 days of a government shutdown with people being hurt? We have absolutely nothing to show for it, other than a damaged brand.

You know, in the oath that brand-new citizens take, it contains six different references to 'the law.' If it's good enough for us to ask brand-new citizens to affirm their devotion to the law, is it too much to ask that the president do the same?

I'm going to help the committee regardless of any position I have. I will volunteer to be a summer intern.

I listen to Gov. Romney have to apologize because he has been successful.

If a president can change some laws, can he change ALL laws? Can he change election laws? Can he change discrimination laws? Are there any laws, under your theory, that he actually HAS to enforce?

These last few years we've seen an unacceptable abuse of power, having a president whose priority is expanding his own power.

While people are free to draw different conclusions from the facts, there should be no debate over whether the American public is entitled to have all of the facts.

I believe being a good senator requires two things. Number one, acumen. Number two, interest.

She was fabulously wrong when she said it the first time, and stunningly arrogant in her refusal to express any regret for lying to our fellow citizens.

It's really beneath the office of a member of Congress to say something that outrageous. The fact that she was once the Speaker is mind-numbing, honestly ... mind-numbingly stupid.

Honestly, I have heard a lot in my 16 years as a prosecutor.

My daughter took Latin for three years; she still can't speak it.

I taught the Constitution for ten years, I believe in the Constitution.

I don't have an issue with whether - from a legal standpoint, with whether or not government can impose the ultimate punishment on people. We do it in capital cases. Police officers shoot fleeing felons.

Well, I certainly hope the Democrats participate. I continue to think that some things transcend politics like the murder of four of our fellow citizens and whether or not you trust government. That is not a red or blue issue. That is an American issue. As for whether or not they boycott, I hope they don't.

The president already has a Nobel Prize for peace. I think he's shooting for one in fiction.

If you can turn off certain categories of law, do you not also have the power to turn off all categories of law?

Congress is supposed to provide oversight, the voters are supposed to provide oversight. And you [the media] were supposed to provide oversight. That's why you have special liberties and that's why you have special protections.

It always matters whether or not you can trust your government.

Members of Congress are incredibly blessed and fortune to have the jobs that we have. Nobody makes us run. Every two years we offer for public office, and if you don't want to do it then don't run. But the notion that you can make $174,000 in this country and be underpaid is laughable.

I'm unelectable in the District of Columbia.

Your memo is trumping a Congressional statute. You don't have the discretion on whether to follow the law or not.

There's several different forms of executive privilege. The one that is most absolute would be close advisers talking to the president himself.

For 16 years I spoke in trial metaphors, and perhaps I need to get out of that habit.

The longer you remain silent, the longer you don't turn over documents, a presumption begins to build that you're withholding something. That's human nature. That may not be a legal presumption, but that's a common sense presumption.

I'm not searching for ways to tell the District of Columbia what to do.

I don't think the president had anything to do with Fast and Furious. I'm not sure Eric Holder did, which leads to a conversation about whether he should have known about it.

Facts are neither Republican nor Democrat.

There's a reason that students don't grade their own papers. There's a reason defendants don't sentence themselves. And there's the reason the State Department doesn't get to investigate itself, determine whether or not it made errors in Benghazi. That is Congress's job.

If you were summoned for jury duty and you didn't show up, what would happen? You'd be in jail!

What is our recourse, Mr. Speaker? What is our remedy?

It is actually costlier to hire an immigrant. And yet the farm worker is almost invariably an immigrant. You can't pay an American to pick blueberries.

The notion that the First Amendment has no limitations whatsoever is balderdash.

I cannot and will not raise money on Benghazi. I also advise my colleagues to follow suit.