Gowdy fired Air Force reservist who wouldn't attack Hillary — costing taxpayers $150k

The tragic events in Benghazi in 2012, which led to the death of four Americans, spurred a series of shameless, opportunistic kangaroo courts and investigations by House Republicans desperate to find wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton.

The biggest investigation was the Select Committee on Benghazi, lead by South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy — who this year went on to become chair of the Oversight Committee.

During his investigation, Gowdy engaged in flagrantly unethical behavior, including retaliation against a staffer who failed to incriminate Clinton. And according to the Washington Post, Gowdy’s behavior ended in a huge, expensive lawsuit against the government:

The Post confirmed the confidential settlement reached between Gowdy and the Benghazi panel and Bradley Podliska after it appeared in a list of settlements released Friday by the congressional Office of Compliance. Gowdy is now the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

In a list provided to the House Committee on Administration, the OOC disclosed it oversaw one $150,000 settlement involving a claim of veteran status discrimination and retaliation in the last five years. Podliska, in addition to claiming he was fired for his refusal to focus on Clinton, alleged retaliation by his supervisors because he took leave to fulfill his obligations as an Air Force reservist.

Discriminating against someone for veteran status — let alone for not cooking up evidence against a political opponent — is reprehensible.

And taxpayers got stuck with the bill for Gowdy’s stunning lack of ethics.

This kind of abuse of his power in a partisan fashion is nothing new for Gowdy. When it comes to Donald Trump, Gowdy has taken the exact opposite attitude, at one point threatening to seal Trump-Russia hearings from the public in his capacity on the Intelligence Committee.

Taxpayers had no say in wrongfully terminating a service member — Gowdy alone was responsible for that, all because of his ceaseless fixation on Hillary Clinton.

The American people should not have had to pay for Gowdy’s obsession.