AG Lynch defends decision on Clinton email inquiry

[webfact]

AG Lynch defends decision on Clinton email inquiry
By ERIC TUCKER and ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Loretta Lynch deflected a barrage of Republican questions Tuesday about her decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her use of private email, saying it "would not be appropriate" to discuss the matter in her role as the nation's top law enforcement official.

GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee voiced frustration, with the panel's chairman, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, telling Lynch her reticence was "an abdication of your responsibility." The panel's Democrats tried to change the subject to issues of community policing and gun control in what seemed a warmup for the fall's campaign season.

Lynch repeatedly referred the committee to last week's testimony by FBI Director James Comey, who gave an unusually detailed account of the investigation in a nearly five-hour appearance before another House panel and described the rationale for his advice that no charges be brought. Comey is a lifelong Republican who served as deputy attorney general during George W. Bush's GOP administration.

"I accepted that recommendation. I saw no reason not to accept it," Lynch testified. "The matter was handled like any other matter."

Republicans demanded to know how Clinton could have avoided prosecution under a "gross negligence" law when Comey had described her and her aides as "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information. They also grilled Lynch over what she'd talked about with former President Bill Clinton in a June 27 tarmac conversation aboard her government plane.

Lynch said the conversation had been entirely social in nature, and that she'd never discussed Clinton's email practices with either Bill or Hillary Clinton. Nor had she discussed with them a position in the Hillary Clinton administration, she said.

She reiterated that her announcement that she would be accepting the FBI's recommendation was an attempt to remove the specter of political interference from the case, after the chance meeting with Clinton raised a perception problem.

But Republicans suggested that Lynch, a Democratic political appointee, only worsened the perception that Hillary Clinton was getting special treatment and had been wrong to announce ahead of time that she would be accepting the investigative team's guidance for the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate.

"I think your actions made it worse, I really do," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Despite the prodding, Lynch wouldn't budge in her refusal to discuss the investigation and the decision-making process.

"I refer you to Director Comey's discussion for that," she said at one point. "It would not be appropriate in my role to discuss the specific facts," she said at another.

The deflection irritated committee Republicans already angry that Clinton would not face charges over her handling of classified information when she relied on a private email server for government business during her tenure as secretary of state. After failing to get Lynch to answer his questions, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona remarked on "your prodigious dissimulation skills" before withdrawing further questions.

Goodlatte, the panel's chairman, said Clinton's carelessness with classified information "suggests she cannot be trusted with the nation's most sensitive secrets if she is nevertheless elected president."

The hearing played out amid a roiling national debate over police violence, and committee Democrats repeatedly tried to turn the conversation to that issue and other topics as they criticized Republicans for dwelling on the Democrats' likely presidential nominee and her email practices.

"Rome is burning, there is blood on the streets of many American cities and we are beating this email horse to death," said Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the hearing a political "joy ride" in the midst of a national plague of gun violence.

Republicans asked the Justice Department Monday to investigate whether Clinton lied under oath in earlier testimony to a congressional committee investigating the Benghazi, Libya, attacks that killed four Americans while Clinton was secretary of state. Clinton has said she did not send or receive emails marked classified when she sent them, claims that Comey contradicted last week.

But Comey also said there was no evidence that Clinton or her aides intended to violate laws governing classified actions, and therefore no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case.

In her opening statement Lynch touched on law enforcement and policing issues, including last week's sniper shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a suspect who said he wanted to kill white officers. That followed police killings of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot near St. Paul, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling, who was shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"As we gather here this morning, that sense of safety has been shaken by the series of devastating events that rocked our nation last week," Lynch said.

Lynch, who was sworn in as attorney general in April 2015 on the same day as racially tinged riots occurred in Baltimore, has repeatedly said that one of her top priorities in office is to improve relationships between police and communities.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-13

[MaxYakov]

"Lynch, who was sworn in as attorney general in April 2015 on the same day as racially tinged riots occurred in Baltimore, has repeatedly said that one of her top priorities in office is to improve relationships between police and communities."

Just below the higher priorities of "protecting the Obama administration, Hillary and her phony-baloney job" of course.

AG Lynch refuses to answer questions over 74 times - The American Mirror - July 12, 2016

Edited July 12, 2016 by MaxYakov

[Boon Mee]

FIX IS IN: Lynch Won’t Answer ANYTHING…

…Doesn’t Regret Meet with Bill

http://www.drudgereport.com/

It's all a criminal enterprise. Adios America!

[shirtless]

she should be sacked being black does not cancel out this conflict of interest.

[colinneil]

Lynch defends her decision on Clinton e-mails why?

That is easy to answer she wants to live a long life thats why..

People who oppose the Clintons have a habit of dieing suddenly

[Andaman Al]

I imagine the number of cases of 'strokes' amongst US Republican citizens has soared in the last 6 months. It is such good reality TV nothing else can follow it. Thanks for entertaining the world.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Andaman Al

[stevenl]

Goodlatte's remark shows what this is about: the upcoming election, not Clinton's actions as Secretary of State.

[stevenl]

Lynch defends her decision on Clinton e-mails why?

That is easy to answer she wants to live a long life thats why..

People who oppose the Clintons have a habit of dieing suddenly

You forgot to insert 'mafia' in your post.

[Boon Mee]

Lynch is an unqualified hack.

[ggt]

She did not defend anything...refused to take responsibility...worst group of incompetent "leaders" ever assembled under one failed US administration...

Only US AG worse than Loretta Lynch was her predecessor...Eric the racist Holder...

Edited July 13, 2016 by ggt

[arrowsdawdle]

What a bunch of tripe, she song and danced her way in avoidance of any semblance of a decision.

[iReason]

[Chicog]

Lynch is an unqualified hack.

Unqualified. Oh Boon Mee you are a paragon of ignorance.

"Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is the 83rd and current Attorney General of the United States, having previously served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Her tenure as U.S. Attorney began in 2010, and she also held that position from 1999 to 2001. As U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Lynch oversaw federal prosecutions in Brooklyn, Queens,Staten Island and Long Island.

Lynch graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984. She then practiced law in New York and became a federal prosecutor in 1990, rising to become head of the Eastern District office. She later returned to private law practice, until she again became the top district prosecutor."

You're barely qualified to opine.

[Ulysses G.]

She can have all the degrees and experience in the world. She proved that she is an unqualified hack by ignoring the law for political considerations. There is little doubt that Hillary got special treatment.

Republicans demanded to know how Clinton could have avoided prosecution under a "gross negligence" law when Comey had described her and her aides as "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information

More than half of Americans surveyed said they disapprove of FBI Director James Comey’s recommendation to not charge Hillary Clinton over her private email server, according to the results of a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The 56 percent disapproval number includes 88 percent of Republicans and almost a third of Democrats (31 percent). Additionally, 57 percent of Americans said the former secretary of State’s handling of the email arrangement worries them about how she would handle her job as president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/07/11/this-new-poll-shows-that-even-a-lot-of-dems-worry-about-hillarys-emails/

Report: FBI Agents Privately Believe Lynch, Clinton Struck ‘An Inside Deal’

According to The New York Post, FBI agents who worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation are privately upset with the decision not to charge her and are quietly alleging that Attorney General Loretta Lynch must have struck a deal with her husband Bill Clinton during their private meeting.

http://www.mediaite.com/print/report-fbi-agents-privately-believe-lynch-clinton-struck-an-inside-deal/

Edited July 13, 2016 by Ulysses G.

[Chicog]

She can have all the degrees and experience in the world. She proved that she is an unqualified hack by ignoring the law for political considerations. There is little doubt that Hillary got special treatment.

Republicans demanded to know how Clinton could have avoided prosecution under a "gross negligence" law when Comey had described her and her aides as "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information

More than half of Americans surveyed said they disapprove of FBI Director James Comey’s recommendation to not charge Hillary Clinton over her private email server, according to the results of a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The 56 percent disapproval number includes 88 percent of Republicans and almost a third of Democrats (31 percent). Additionally, 57 percent of Americans said the former secretary of State’s handling of the email arrangement worries them about how she would handle her job as president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/07/11/this-new-poll-shows-that-even-a-lot-of-dems-worry-about-hillarys-emails/

Report: FBI Agents Privately Believe Lynch, Clinton Struck ‘An Inside Deal’

According to The New York Post, FBI agents who worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation are privately upset with the decision not to charge her and are quietly alleging that Attorney General Loretta Lynch must have struck a deal with her husband Bill Clinton during their private meeting.

http://www.mediaite.com/print/report-fbi-agents-privately-believe-lynch-clinton-struck-an-inside-deal/

By all means use the slur of 'hack' if it makes you feel better. But if you question her qualifications for the job, you're on an intellectual par with Boon mee. Trust me, you don't want that label 5555

[Ulysses G.]

She blatantly violated national security and blatantly lied to the American public on numerous occasions. The FBI called her "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information. She should have been prosecuted according to the gross negligence law. Those are pretty good reasons why she is NOT qualified for the job.

(Boon Mee is an intellectual giant compared to some of the posters insulting him on this thread.)

Edited July 13, 2016 by Ulysses G.

[Chicog]

Boon mee.... intellectual giant... early nominee for comedic post of the year.

[ggt]

Lynch is an unqualified hack.

Unqualified. Oh Boon Mee you are a paragon of ignorance.

"Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is the 83rd and current Attorney General of the United States, having previously served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Her tenure as U.S. Attorney began in 2010, and she also held that position from 1999 to 2001. As U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Lynch oversaw federal prosecutions in Brooklyn, Queens,Staten Island and Long Island.

Lynch graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984. She then practiced law in New York and became a federal prosecutor in 1990, rising to become head of the Eastern District office. She later returned to private law practice, until she again became the top district prosecutor."

You're barely qualified to opine.

This just goes to show that an elite education and experience does not qualify one to pass judgement on others when honesty and integrity are missing...