Trey Gowdy Quotations

When you go into public service, you understand you're trading something. You want to feel good about what you do, but you're not going to make what people in private sector make.

The reason I like the criminal justice system is there aren't Republican or Democrat victims or police officers or prosecutors. It's about respect for the rule of law!

October of 2011, Occupy protestors descended upon McPherson Square, and they decided to stay. Despite the clear language of the law, these protestors camped at McPherson Square with the definition of camping being sleeping or preparing to sleep.

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

There's no use to having the majority if you are going to be hamstrung by your perception of political vicissitudes.

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

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.

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.

You may be less likely to pick on someone if you don't know what's in their briefcase or purse.

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.

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

I don't like bonuses for public services employees who do great jobs, like prosecutors or judges.

I was on the campaign trail for 18 months. I never got a question about the District of Columbia in South Carolina.

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

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

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

I do not want to stay in Washington.

I thought that was the crown jewel of the reporter's resume - to actually go to jail protecting a source.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Unless your name is Jack Bauer, you cannot make people talk.

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.

Even someone as lowly as an assistant U.S. attorney has to undergo a background check, and you're asked a series of very invasive questions, and you're expected to tell the truth and they're under penalty of perjury. And you're asked those questions so you can't be blackmailed or extorted.

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

The United States attorney in South Carolina was a Barack Obama appointee. Politically, he is to the left of Mao Zedong.

You don't get John Gotti to testify against his driver. You get the driver to testify against John Gotti.

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

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

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.

Even someone as lowly as an assistant U.S. attorney has to undergo a background check, and you're asked a series of very invasive questions, and you're expected to tell the truth and they're under penalty of perjury. And you're asked those questions so you can't be blackmailed or extorted.

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

I’m unelectable in the District of Columbia.

I can tell you this. It is not going to be evenly constituted and when she was Speaker Pelosi, she certainly showed no interests in having an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

The same Constitution that allows her the right, if she wants to, to sit there and say nothing, allows these groups the right to petition their government for redress.

I would love the chance to ask follow-up questions of Susan Rice because David Gregory apparently did not avail himself of that opportunity. Greta, I just listened to the clip - I get tougher questions in the Bojangles drive-through than he asked her.

What do we do with a president who can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying I don't agree with this part or that part?

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

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

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

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.

There's no way we can get to the bottom of Benghazi without David Petraeus.

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'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.

My daughter took Latin for three years; she still cant speak it.

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.

You may be less likely to pick on someone if you dont know whats in their briefcase or purse.

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.

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

Facts are neither Republican nor Democrat.

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

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.

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?

I am not surprised that the President of the United States called this a phony scandal. I'm not surprised that Secretary Clinton asked, "What difference does it make?" I'm not even surprised that Jay Carney said that Benghazi happened 'a long time ago.' I'm just surprised at how many people bought it.

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