Trey Gowdy decides not to sign on to Trump's impeachment legal team: 'He doesn't need another lawyer'

On Thursday, The Statereported that former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has decided he will not sign onto President Donald Trump's legal team to help fight the impeachment trial.

“The president has good lawyers and more importantly good facts,” Gowdy wrote in an email to The State's parent company, McClatchy. “He does not need another lawyer added to his team. He needs the trial to begin and end.”

Gowdy has for months been speculated as a possible addition to Trump's legal team, and the previous weekend he was spotted speaking to the president at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida, which suggests he may still be giving advice to Trump even if he does not provide formal legal representation.

Before he left Congress in 2019, Gowdy chaired the House Oversight Committee. He was also the key figure in the GOP's frequent Benghazi investigations.