Attorney General Loretta Lynch steadfastly defended her decision to close the Hillary Clinton email investigation without criminal charges, insisting Tuesday that she simply accepted the unanimous recommendation of career FBI investigators and attorneys.
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But she repeatedly deferred to FBI Director James Comey’s comments on the case, declining to elaborate herself.
“This has now become an issue for Congress in that it appears Secretary Clinton testified falsely when appearing under oath before the Select Committee on Benghazi”, Goodlatte told Lynch, referring to Clinton’s assertions that she did not send emails marked classified at the time from her private server.
She reiterates that her concerns about a perception problem led her to announce after the meeting that she would be accepting her investigative team’s recommendation about charges against Hillary Clinton.
“I find it extraordinary that after a three-and-a-half hour interview so quickly a recommendation was made”, Gohmert said.
“You have a burden, I think, to convince to the American public that you don’t have a double standard”.
Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who also chairs the Oversight committee, asked a series of questions about the legality of handling classified materials, to which Lynch replied by refusing to discuss hypotheticals and again pointed to the need for specifics of the case.
Lynch was arriving in Phoenix and Bill Clinton was departing June 27 when he relayed through a security detail that he wanted to speak with her. He boarded her government plane and the two spoke for 30 minutes.
The FBI findings, especially Comey’s remarks, could reinforce a view of Clinton among many voters that she is dishonest and exercises poor judgment.
Lynch announced the same week of Comey’s statement that the Justice Department was not going to charge Clinton for mishandling classified information over her server while at the State Department. That Lynch has difficulty defending the decision on a legal basis should be investigated by the Justice Department inspector general, while Congress should not give up the inquiry.
Lynch’s grilling took place in five minute bursts, interspersed with questions from Democrats, most of whom spent their allotted time on issues like gun violence and the relationship between law enforcement and the African American community, with occasional breaks to criticize the Republicans for their focus on Clinton.
Lynch repeated her previous contention that the meeting with Clinton was a “social conversation”.
Hillary Clinton jumped into a public records lawsuit Tuesday to try to avoid a deposition about the private email system she used as secretary of state.
“Before this investigation, I probably would have said, ‘yes, ‘” Comey acknowledged. “Somebody asked me to consult an attorney and you are the attorney general”.
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Lynch did say, in response to questioning from Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, that she had never discussed Clintons email practices with either Hillary or Bill Clinton, and she also said she had not discussed with either of them a position in the Hillary Clinton administration.
