WH defends Lynch’s record after Clinton meeting

by TheHill.com - 07/01/16 2:37 PM ET

The White House on Friday defended the record of Attorney General Loretta Lynch and declined to weigh in on whether she erred in meeting with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac in Phoenix earlier this week.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest avoided criticizing the meeting during the daily briefing Friday, instead deferring to the assessment from Lynch, who earlier in the day said she “wouldn’t do it again.” Her meeting raised eyebrows given the Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email arrangement while she was secretary of State.

{mosads}Earnest said he would let Lynch “render her own judgment” on whether the meeting was a bad idea. Lynch said that the meeting has “cast a shadow” over how the case may be perceived, announcing she’d “fully” accept whatever recommendations career prosecutors and investigators offer in the case.

“When it comes to judgment, there is no quarreling with the 30-year history that Loretta Lynch has established as a highly competent, highly successful federal prosecutor,” Earnest told reporters.

Earnest praised Lynch’s tenure as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, as well as her work since taking the helm of the Justice Department last year.

Republicans and some Democrats criticized the meeting that Lynch described as an impromptu run-in; she said Bill Clinton boarded her plane and they spent 30 minutes discussing his grandchildren and other social topics. She said the email investigation didn’t come up in the conversation.

Earnest said Friday he wasn’t aware if Obama and Lynch had spoken since the attorney general’s meeting with Clinton. Obama is scheduled to campaign with Hillary Clinton in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, their first appearance together on the campaign trail this year. Clinton is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president.

Earnest said he would not “second guess” or provide “backseat driving” on whether Lynch had poor judgment in agreeing to meet with Bill Clinton amid the federal investigation into the private server used by his wife during her tenure as secretary of State.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has blasted the meeting, arguing it illustrates a “rigged” system.

“I’m going to let the attorney general speak to her schedule and her handling of the significant responsibilities that she has,” Earnest told reporters.

Earnest insisted the federal probe into Clinton’s email arrangement would be conducted independent ly of political interference.

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