War Of Words In DC Throws Gasoline On The Iran Deal Oil Fire (Trey Gowdy Backs Tom Cotton) Just in time for the major party conventions coming up over the summer, a quite literal war of words has erupted between Republicans on Capitol Hill and members of the Obama Administration. The topic: the Iran Nuclear deal, which the White House says is one thing, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) says is something completely different and a New York Times article on Ben Rhodes from two weeks ago implies that the public story is nowhere close to the real one. For the past week or so, Cotton has suddenly become public enemy number one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., to the point that he is being named in White House press briefings. It seems that Deputy Security Advisor Ben Rhodes tried to spin the details of the Iran Nuclear Deal to the New York Times and Cotton called him on the inaccuracies. Because of that, and other concerns, Rhodes was called before the Government Oversight Committee by the Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), and the White House refused to send him. The official explanation did not invoke executive privilege, but may as well have, to which Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) had this to say: What does Cotton have to say about all this? He appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show on Tuesday and had this to say: I guess I became public enemy number one at the White House because Im telling the truth about the Iran deal. Look, what you just played, and some of the coverage of Ben Rhodes is what happens when you put van drivers and campaign flacks and failed novelists in charge of foreign policy and national security, And that chump may think that subsidizing Irans nuclear program with millions of dollars is a laughing matter. I dont think its that funny. And if he or anyone else over there had ever been man enough to put on the uniform and pick up a rifle, and have to lead men in dodging Iranian-made bombs, they might not be laughing, either, the freshman senator added. Cotton didnt let the van drivers line go, saying later in the interview that most of whos left in the administration now are all these yes men and fan boys who were van drivers or press flaks during the presidents campaign in 2008. This reminds me of the time back during the big fight over Obamacare and the government spending bill in the fall of 2013. And one of the guys over there accused the House Republicans of being suicide bombers, if you recall that? As if any of them had ever seen anything more dangerous than a shoving match when they were playing beer pong in the back of a bar in Georgetown, Cotton said. Cotton went on to say that being a member of the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, he actually heard the classified briefings from a non-partisan source that bear little to no resemblance to what the White House is telling the world. (Audio can be heard here.) Like him or not for his stance on the Republican presumptive nominee for president, Cotton has always been a straight shooter, especially on matters of national security. What motive would he have to not tell the truth on this matter? That is basically what White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest called him. No one can blame the people on Capitol Hill for wanting to know why. It is interesting, though, that the one person in this war of words who so vociferously defended Cotton would be the only one actually exiting government at the end of the year. Trey Gowdy will be leaving Congress at the completion of his term as a congresscritter. He has nothing to lose in this war of words. Unlike Chaffetz who today said that he will not subpoena Rhodes to testify before the Government Oversight Committee on this matter. Why that happened is another matter entirely. 