“This is all about getting to the truth,” Boehner asserted. “It’s not going to be a circus. This is a serious investigation.”

To demonstrate the seriousness, the National Republican Congressional Committee, under the control of House Republican leaders, started a fundraising campaign Wednesday urging donors to become “Benghazi watchdogs” along with “Chief Benghazi Watchdog Congressman Trey Gowdy.”

“House Republicans will make sure that no one will get away from Gowdy and the Select Committee,” it said, adding, “Help fight liberals by donating today.”

Gowdy disagreed with that approach in his MSNBC interview, saying, “I have never sought to raise a single penny on the backs of four murdered Americans.”

It emerged later in the day that Gowdy had, in fact, spoken about Benghazi at a fundraiser. But perhaps he should be forgiven this memory lapse. As chief prosecutor in the show trial of the president, he has a lot on his mind.