John Boehner secretly met with Trey Gowdy in an attempt to get him to run for House Majority Leader

 It is being reported in this article that John Boehner held a secret meeting with Trey Gowdy in an attempt to convince him to run for House Majority Leader. Here is more:

Speaker John Boehner secretly met with Rep. Trey Gowdy Tuesday to encourage him to jump into the race for House majority leader, a dramatic attempt by the chamber’s top Republican to try to influence the intraparty election.

The previously undisclosed meeting reveals new behind-the-scenes involvement by Boehner, who has not endorsed any candidates in the leadership race. That the Ohio Republican inserted himself in the contest underscores his concern about who succeeds him in GOP leadership. Boehner requested the meeting after word spread that Gowdy was considering a bid for the post.

Boehner (R-Ohio) “has always been a fan of Trey’s and thinks he’s done a tremendous job as chairman of the Benghazi select committee and he thinks he would do the same thing if he had gotten into the leader race,” said one Boehner confidant with knowledge of the meeting.

    I found this news to be interesting because Trey Gowdy is a Tea Party favorite and we all know that John Boehner is not all that fond of the Tea Party wing of the Republican party. But it looks as if there might be an ulterior motive behind this meeting: Boehner crony Kevin McCarthy is currently the Majority Leader and it is widely believed he will assume the Speakership once John Boehner is gone. There is the possibility that a Tea Party person could assume the position of Speaker and I think it is safe to say that John Boehner does not want to see that happen so when he heard Trey Gowdy was considering a run for a leadership position he asked he to run for Majority Leader to take him out of the running for Speaker.

Many Republicans close to Boehner and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy believe Gowdy could help protect the California Republican’s right flank. McCarthy allies fear hard-line conservatives could block his ascent to the speaker’s chair during the vote on the House floor, throwing the chamber into turmoil.

  Now that sounds more like what I have come to expect from the outgoing Speaker of the House and I have no doubt this is an accurate representation of the motive behind this secret meeting.

  It appears as if the rumor earlier today about Trey Gowdy not seeking reelection when his term expires is false but for his part the Congressman from South Carolina has ruled out a run at a leadership position stating he would rather continue to head up the Benghazi Select Committee.

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium