Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., on Sunday after learning that the influential committee chairman plans to back rival candidate Sen. Marco Rubio for the party's nomination.
Trump told "Fox and Friends" that Gowdy, chairman of the Republican-led House Select Committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, was a "total disaster" during the high-profile hearing with Hillary Clinton in October.
"I hope [Gowdy] does a better job than he did, frankly, at the Benghazi hearings, because they were a total disaster," Trump said, according to Business Insider.
Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attacks that left four Americans dead, testified before Gowdy's committee for 11 hours about how she handled the attack. It was widely regarded as a political victory for the Democratic presidential front-runner, Reuters reported.
"Everybody was looking forward to something that was going to be really productive," Trump said. "And he didn't win with those hearings. It was a total not-good for Republicans and for the country. I mean, beyond Republicans it was very bad for the country."
He continued: "So I hope he does a lot better for Marco than he did for the Benghazi hearings. Because they were not good. That was not a pretty picture."
Rubio's presidential campaign announced Saturday that Gowdy will attend several town halls with the Florida senator in Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday, also releasing a statement from Gowdy that called Rubio a "rock-solid conservative and strong leader we can trust." Bloomberg Politics confirmed on Sunday that Gowdy is expected to endorse Rubio on Tuesday.
Trump said in his interview that he saw lots of people criticizing Gowdy for the endorsement. "I've been seeing on Twitter many, many people extremely angry about the whole thing. Because, you know, Marco's been very strong for amnesty and very weak at the border. And a lot of people are very upset with Trey Gowdy for doing that," Trump said.
Following the interview, the billionaire businessman and former reality TV star retweeted a few messages critical of Gowdy and his committee.
"@mitchellvii: Face it, Trey Gowdy failed miserably on Benghazi. He allowed it to drag out and in the end, let Hillary get away with murder.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015
"@mitchellvii: My prediction on the Trey Gowdy endorsement of Rubio is that it will do nothing for Rubio and finish Gowdy." — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015
Trump tweeted in July that Gowdy would be the Attorney General if he won the presidency, noted The Daily Caller.
"@USARestoring: @HillaryClinton's toast. Dems had better get the"B Team" off the bench. @TGowdySC for Attorney General under President Trump
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2015
