Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy spoke out on Thursday night to praise the Department of Justice for choosing to move forward with charges against ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Gowdy went so far as to say that the DOJ’s decision exemplifies the fairness of the American justice system.

Fox News reported that Gowdy said that McCabe’s effort to avoid charges relating to lying to federal investigators was brought on when Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen rejected the new CNN contributor’s appeal.

“It’s a celebration of our justice system, where you can be the second-in-command at the world’s premier law enforcement agency and still be subject to investigation and potentially indictment,” said Gowdy.

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This came hours after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu recommended moving forward with charges against McCabe. During an interview with Fox News host Martha McCallum, Gowdy said that the ex-FBI official is nonetheless afforded the same constitutional rights as anyone else.

“He’s presumed innocent,” Gowdy said, adding that political observers may find that fact “wildly unpopular.”

“And even if he’s indicted, the indictment is no evidence of a crime,” Gowdy continued. “I know politics doesn’t reward fairness, but our justice system needs to survive long past the political vagaries.”

The former Republican congressman said that McCabe lied to DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz and “leaked something that was in his best interest.”

“It’s the oldest motive known to man, which is self-interest,” he said.

A source close to McCabe’s legal team told the press that they received an email from the Department of Justice which said, “The department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney’s Office’s decision in this matter. Any further inquiries should be directed to the United States Attorney’s Office.”

After spending 21 years with the FBI, McCabe became the acting director in May 2017 after President Trump fired Director James Comey. McCabe was fired by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in March of 2018 after the inspector general found he had repeatedly misstated his involvement in a leak to The Wall Street Journal regarding an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

McCabe’s legal team had an in-person meeting with Liu to make an appeal not to move forward with any prosecution. A person familiar with the meetings said that they also met with Rosen for the same reason.

The source said that on top of that, McCabe’s legal team sent an “extensive” letter to Rosen following the meetings in which they laid out their reasoning against moving forward with a prosecution.