Republican lawmakers pummeled Attorney General Loretta Lynch with questions Tuesday about the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for sending classified information on a private, unsecured email system, but Lynch repeatedly declined to explain the legal basis for the decision. “The buck stops with you”, said Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. “I accepted that recommendation”. “You’re not meeting that burden”.
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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.
FBI Director James Comey said she had multiple devices and investigators found thousands of work-related emails that had not been turned over.
Lynch was asked about her email practices by Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. Lynch then said that she would accept whatever recommendation the Federal Bureau of Investigation and her prosecutors presented. “It was a unanimous recommendation”, said Lynch.
Chaffetz said on Fox News he had concerns after the hearings that Clinton was not indicted for political reasons and that the Obama administration would not allow it to happen while imposing a different standard on Clinton than the average American would face.
He cited Comey’s comments to back up Clinton’s own statements that she used the server simply as a matter of convenience. “Every case is different”.
“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 Fox report on Lynch’s testimony is here.
“Director Comey is a man of impeccable integrity, ” said Plaskett, who once worked with the director during a previous tenure at the Justice Department. California Rep. Zoe Lofgren chose to take the time to highlight immigration issues, accusing Republicans of being politically motivated. “There are a lot of things that need attention that we’re not giving attention to”.
The nations sense of safety has been shaken by the series of devastating events that rocked our nation last week, Lynch said.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch says building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve has never been more hard or important. “That work has never been more hard – or more important”, Lynch said.
The case has become a focus of attacks against Clinton by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and sparked criticism by conservative politicians that the Justice Department was politically motivated to not prosecute Clinton.
Lawmakers accused Lynch of being influenced by former President Clinton when the two met last month in Phoenix, Arizona.
Issa further floated the idea Tuesday by inquiring about who was involved in the investigation.
Democratic members of the panel notably refused to ask any questions about the email investigation, asking instead about other issues – from the police killing of African-Americans to immigration raids and alleged profiling of Asian-Americans.
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“With respect to the team, typically we don’t go into the composition of it”, Lynch replied.
