Video: Gowdy Vows To Get To The Bottom Of Voter I.D. Opposition

U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy vowed Thursday to find out if President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder intentionally politicized their opposition of South Carolina's Voter I.D. law against the advice of senior Department of Justice officials. 

Gowdy, speaking in Spartanburg, where he'd spent the day touring with new Senator Tim Scott, was a co-author of a letter to Holder, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham, that requested the Department of Justice to provide an explanation of why the Feds pursued litigation against the law. Not only was South Carolina's Voter I.D. law upheld, but a Washington D.C. District Court decision held that the Federal Governement should be responsible for reimbursing the state for at least part of the state's $3.5 in expenses incurred during the protracted legal battle with the U.S. Government. 

A portion of that letter reads: 

"If some, or all, of the costs associated with these actions could have been avoided by following the recommendation of career Voting Section experts, then we would like to know the reason why they were overruled.

Accordingly, we again request all documents and communications pertaining to the Department’s decision to oppose Act R54 and pursue costly litigation, including any memos recommending preclearance and any documents discussing the decision to disregard that recommendation."

Gowdy doubled down Thursday on his talk of getting to the bottom of why such opposition occurred in the first place. 

"I understand, as Sen. Graham understands that some of the career lifetime DOJ officials advised this administration not to fight this law, but they made a political decision to fight it. I promise you I'm going to find out if that's true or not," Gowdy said. 

"If there's anything that should not be politicized, it's justice, so I promise you I'm going to find that out."