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Democrats groan after Bill Clinton meets Loretta Lynch
The private meeting rekindles concerns about a possible conflict of interest while his wife is under federal investigation.
By LOUIS NELSON, BURGESS EVERETT and NICK GASS
Attorney General Loretta Lynch described her Monday meeting with Bill Clinton aboard a private plane as “primarily social,” but some Democrats are struggling to stomach the optics of the attorney general’s meeting with the former president while his wife is under federal investigation — while others are fiercely defending her integrity.
Lynch said she and Clinton talked only of grandchildren, golf, and their respective travels, but the fact that the two spoke privately at all was enough to rekindle concerns about a possible conflict of interest. Republicans have long called into question the ability of a Democratic-led Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, based inside her Chappaqua, New York, home, during her tenure as secretary of state.
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Once news of their meeting on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport broke, Democrats made clear that while the meeting was likely as innocent as Lynch described, it did not give the Justice Department the appearance of independence.
“I do agree with you that it doesn’t send the right signal,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said Thursday in response to a question about the meeting from CNN “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota. “She has generally shown excellent judgment and strong leadership of the department, and I’m convinced that she’s an independent attorney general. But I do think that this meeting sends the wrong signal and I don’t think it sends the right signal. I think she should have steered clear, even of a brief, casual social meeting with the former president.”
Coons, through his office, later walked back his assessment.
"Senator Coons believes that Attorney General Lynch has addressed this question and said they talked about their grandchildren, travels and golf, and nothing about matters involving the Department," Coons spokesman Jonathan Kott said. "Senator Coons, as a member of the Senate Judiciary committee knows Attorney General Lynch, has worked with her and believes that she is honest and trustworthy."
David Axelrod, a former top aide to President Barack Obama, tweeted that he took Lynch and the former president “at their word” that the Justice Department’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server did not come up, “but foolish to create such optics.”
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was not convinced by the attorney general's assurances, attacking the judgment of both Lynch and Bill Clinton. The Manhattan billionaire decried the meeting as "terrible," "horrible," "amazing" and "really a sneak" in a radio interview with "The Mike Gallagher Show."
“It’s a massive story now. It’s all over the place” he said. “Even the liberal media’s making it a big story, which is shocking to me, because it’s so out of bounds. Wow, that’s an amazing thing.”
Democratic leaders in the Capitol defended Lynch and Clinton's gathering, even as it comes during a Justice Department investigation and the heat of the presidential campaign. They pointed to Lynch's strong reputation among members of both parties (10 Republicans voted to confirm her last year).
"I can't control who meets with whom," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). "No one can ever question [Lynch's] strong feelings about the rule of the law. And her ethics, I repeat, are the best."
"She's an honorable person, we know that," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Reid's presumptive successor next year. "She has said nothing was discussed related to the investigation. So you have two choices: to say this didn't matter or that she's lying. I think that it didn't matter. I don't think she lying."
In April, President Obama told Fox News host Chris Wallace that he can "guarantee" that he would not interfere with the FBI's investigation. "I do not talk to the Attorney General about pending investigations," he said. "I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations. We have a strict line, and always have maintained it."
On Monday, Lynch had just arrived in Phoenix for a community policing event when Bill Clinton, who was on his way out of the airport, found out the two were in the same place and asked to visit with her. Lynch told reporters Wednesday in Los Angeles that she and the former president did not discuss the ongoing investigation into his wife.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) has been perhaps the most vocal lawmaker arguing that the Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton constituted a conflict of interest. He called for a special prosecutor to handle the case as far back as last September and renewed his concerns Thursday morning on Twitter.
“Lynch & Clinton: Conflict of interest?” Cornyn wrote. “An attorney cannot represent two parties in a dispute and must avoid even the appearance of conflict.”
Reid and Schumer bristled when asked if Lynch's meetings feeds critics more ammunition to attack Hillary Clinton during the same week that Republicans teed off on her over her handling of the Benghazi attacks.
"Look at the other side. You've got Donald Trump. So we're satisfied with our candidate. I think she's doing pretty darn good," Reid said.
Loretta Lynch: 'I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport'
Trump: Bill Clinton meeting with Loretta Lynch 'so horrible'
Lynch's meeting with the former president came a day before top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin was deposed as part of a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, a case separate from the ongoing FBI investigation into the former secretary of state’s email server. During the deposition, Abedin testified about an email exchange from November 2010 in which Clinton asked if she could get a “separate address or device” but added that she did not “want any risk of the personal being accessible.”
Abedin, who serves as vice chairwoman of Clinton’s presidential campaign, said during the Tuesday deposition, according to a transcript released Wednesday, that she had suggested to Clinton going on a State Department email address or informing the department of her personal address so that they could make sure her emails were not going to their spam folders. The particular exchange stemmed from Clinton apparently missing an important phone call with a “foreign minister” because her email confirming the event went to spam.
“She seems frustrated because she’s not able to do her job,” Abedin testified, describing the exchange. “I seem frustrated back because I’m not.”
In his deposition on Wednesday, State Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy testified that Clinton's use of a private email address "did not register" or "strike any bells," according to a transcript released Thursday.
Asked whether Clinton’s emails to him struck him as out of the ordinary when compared to her use of more traditional communication tools, Kennedy said it was not surprising because of the “very small volume” of emails he received from the secretary of state during her time at the department.
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