Gowdy, Defending Sen. Cotton, Questions Ben Rhodes’ Qualifications

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) ripped into the administration Tuesday for criticizing Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) over his stance on Iran.

Gowdy contrasted Cotton, a U.S. Army veteran, to Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, who is under fire over the way the White House sold the Iran nuclear deal to the American people.

Speaking during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at which the White House did not allow Rhodes to testify, Gowdy noted that Rhodes has a Master’s degree in creative writing.

While Cotton was serving combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, “Ben Rhodes was navigating the mean streets of a creative writing curriculum.”

“And if you’re interested in writing haikus and sonnets and novellas, he’s probably the right guy,” Gowdy continued. “On the other hand, if you’re advising the leader of the free world on foreign policy matters, I don’t know how a haiku helps.”

Gowdy said he would like to have been able to ask Rhodes “how his background prepared him to sell the Iranian deal, yet Tommy Cotton’s background did not prepare him to criticize the Iranian deal.”

“That would have been an interesting dichotomy for me.”

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