WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General Loretta Lynch is expected to face questions about policing and race, as well as the Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of private email while secretary of state, in a House hearing.
Advertisement
And in the end, after almost five hours of parrying, dodging and weaving, Lynch appeared to emerge unscathed from a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing that dwelled at length on her decision last week to shut down the yearlong investigation into Clinton’s emails on the recommendation of FBI Director James B. Comey Jr.
Democratic lawmakers on the committee asked Lynch about a separate range of issues, from tighter gun control in the wake of shootings of clubgoers and police in Orlando and Dallas, as well as ways to reduce fatal police shootings of unarmed African Americans amid ongoing protests over the issue.
Rep. Dave Trott (R-Mich.), said his staff counted more than 70 times during Tuesday’s hearing that Lynch said she couldn’t answer or avoided a direct response to questions.
Goodlatte, who joined in a congressional Republican request for the Justice Department to investigate Clinton for perjury, said she “testified falsely” about handling classified information and criticized Comey’s conclusion that no reasonable prosecutor would take up the case. According to the New York Post, FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecured, private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State were required to sign unprecedented non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from disclosing anything about their investigation of Hillary.
“While I understand that this investigation has generated significant public interest, as attorney general, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the underlying facts of the investigation or the legal basis for the [FBI] team’s recommendation [against prosecution]”, Lynch responded moments later.
Polk County Republican Congressman Dennis Ross is calling for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
She told the committee specifically, however, that she did not discuss the e-mail issue or any other matter linked with the Justice Department when she met with the former president.
“It would not be appropriate in my role to discuss the specific facts”, she repeatedly said.
Lynch previously has acknowledged the meeting had “cast a shadow” on the public perception of the Justice Department’s independence, and that was when she announced she would accept whatever recommendation the Federal Bureau of Investigation and her prosecutors presented on Clinton.
“But I am going to focus instead on more important issues facing this country”, Nadler said. But Secretary Clinton is not facing prosecution for her actions…
She did defend her decision not to recuse herself from the investigation into Mrs.Clinton, who was the wife of her former boss, President Clinton, and the political ally of her current boss, President Obama.
Advertisement
The FBI had said earlier this week that now that its investigation into Clinton’s emails has been completed, the FBI would return all material gathered during the probe to the State Department.
