Gowdy: ‘I’ve been a pretty lousy politician’

Rep. Trey GowdyHarold (Trey) Watson GowdyOvernight Cybersecurity: GOP, FBI clash over FISA memo | Uber breach under Senate scrutiny | Upcoming House cyber diplomacy hearing Several lawmakers have seen intelligence behind Nunes memo CNN spokesman fires back at Hannity over guest's comments: 'This is rich' MORE (R-S.C.), who will retire from Congress at the end of his current term, said in a new interview that he considers himself “a pretty lousy politician.”

“My wife hates it when I say this, but I was a pretty good prosecutor, I think.  But I've been a pretty lousy politician,” Gowdy told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“So I've done it for seven years. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to do it, but it's time for me to -- whatever time I've got left -- I want to spend it in the justice system because that's where my heart is.”

Gowdy announced last week that he will not seek re-election this year, adding himself to a list of House Republicans retiring at the end of their current terms.

When asked why he believes himself to be “a lousy politician,” the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said he sees “multiple sides of a single issue.”

“And the fact that someone disagrees with me, does not make me challenge their love of the country.  It doesn't make me believe that they're corrupt.  I've got a lot of friends on the other side of the aisle,” he said. 

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, said last week that he will “return to the justice system.” 

“And look, every hero I have has lost. Every one of them.  So losing is not the worst thing in the world,” Gowdy added in the interview broadcast Sunday morning. 

“Not knowing what you believe and not caring enough about it to fight for it?  That's the worst thing in the world.”