GOP calls Lynch to testify on Clinton probe

by TheHill.com - 07/06/16 10:27 AM ET

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be testifying next week on the federal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, House Republicans announced Wednesday.

Lynch is slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, the panel announced — her second testimony before the panel since becoming the nation’s top law enforcement official last year.

{mosads}Her testimony will come just days after Republicans have FBI Director James Comey testify on Capitol Hill regarding the FBI’s decision, announced Tuesday, to not recommend criminal charges for Clinton over her use of a private email account and server while secretary of State.

Comey became the public face of the federal investigation and announced the decision by himself Tuesday, after a week of furor over Lynch’s private meeting with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac in Phoenix.

Lynch said the email investigation did not come up in her 30-minute impromptu meeting with the former president, though Republicans and some Democrats blasted the appearance of the meeting. Lynch responded to criticism last week by saying she’d accept the recommendation from the FBI and career prosecutors working on the case.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has blasted the timing of Lynch’s meeting a week before the FBI’s conclusion was announced. He also went after President Obama for campaigning with Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, on Tuesday, the day of Comey’s announcement.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Wednesday that the FBI’s decision not to recommend charges against Clinton “raises serious questions” and is “uniquely troubling in light of Attorney General Lynch’s secret meeting with former President Bill Clinton.”

“No one is above the law and the American people need to know that federal law enforcement is taking this misconduct seriously,” Goodlatte said in a statement, saying the hearing would also focus on the Justice Department’s handling of the mass shootings in Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino, Calif., both of which have links to terrorism.

“I look forward to hearing from Attorney General Lynch and learning more about how she and the Justice Department are addressing these important issues,” he said.