‘It Really Was a Social Meeting’
Loretta Lynch says she did speak with former President Bill Clinton in an unarranged meeting on Monday, and says she would not do it again. The U.S. Attorney General spoke with The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart late Friday morning at The Aspen Ideas Festival, explaining it was a social call in which she and the former president spoke about his grandchildren, travel, and golf.
Republicans have used the meeting to suggest Lynch somehow is biased and would inappropriately alter the results of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
“I certainly wouldn’t do it again because I think it has cast this shadow over what it should not, over what it will not touch,” Lynch told Capehart, adding, “It’s important to make it clear that that meeting with President Clinton does not have a bearing on how this matter will be reviewed and resolved.”
According to reports, former President Clinton happened to see the Lynch and went up to her plane to chat.
“Our conversation was a great deal about his grandchildren. It was primary social and about our travels. He mentioned the golf he played in Phoenix, and he mentioned travels he’d had West Virginia. We talked about former Attorney General Janet Reno, for example, whom we both know,” Lynch continued. “But there was no discussion of any matter pending for the department or any matter pending for any other body.” she insisted.
Lynch says that she will accept the recommendations of the FBI once their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server are complete. And she says that while there was nothing improper with her meeting the former resident, she understands why some would question it.
For weeks Lynch has been saying she will let the career prosecutors at the FBI make the decision on the Clinton case.Â