Lynch punted on a pointed question about a portion of the U.S. Espionage Act under which she declined to charge Hillary Clinton with exposing classified information to prying eyes through ‘gross negligence’.
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“I look forward to hearing from Attorney General Lynch and learning more about how she and the Justice Department are addressing these important issues”, he said.
He said Ms. Lynch has created a credibility gap by prosecuting members of the military for sending emails with classified information, but failing to go after Mrs. Clinton. “We hope, Madam Attorney General, to get answers to these questions today”.
The hearing was scheduled before Comey announced his decison and Lynch’s submitted testimony makes no mention of the Clinton email controversy. But Republicans suggested that Lynch, a Democratic political appointee, only worsened the perception that Hillary Clinton was getting special treatment.
But she pledged later that ‘the matter was handled like any other matter’. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, strenuously criticized Lynch over the investigation’s outcome, charging that it “does not seem to be a responsible way to uphold your constitutionally sworn oath”.
He opened his hearing’s remarks saying that despite FBI Director James Comey’s testimony last week explaining his decision not to recommend charges, “the FBI’s conclusion leaves many more questions than answers”.
“You have a burden, I think, to convince the American public that you don’t have a double standard”, the Wisconsin Republican said.
Mr. Comey last week said Mrs. Clinton may well have broken federal laws by sending and receiving classified information on her secret server kept at her home in NY.
Ms. Lynch also defended her “social conversation” with Mr. Clinton at an airport just days before Federal Bureau of Investigation agents interviewed Mrs. Clinton.
“I don’t have a comment on the state of the law”, Lynch replied.
“Again, I can only refer you back to the director’s statements where he chose to outline the fact that no other cases similar to this had, in fact, been brought”, she said.
The House Judiciary Committee returned to questioning presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton about her use of email. She instead focused on the killings of five Dallas police officers by Micah Xavier Johnson, an Army veteran apparently angry over police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Lynch says the Justice Department will continue to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to provide funding and technical support for programs like body-worn cameras and de-escalation training.
After the meeting became public, she made an unusual pledge not to influence the Justice Department probe and to let stand the recommendations of career investigators and prosecutors in the case.
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Lynch caused a stir by meeting with Bill Clinton last month aboard her plane in Phoenix. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. News stories displayed here appear in our category for General and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
