Lynch won’t rule out staying on as AG under Clinton
Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to rule out on Tuesday that she might remain the head of the Justice Department if Hillary Clinton were to ask her.
Lynch was asked the question by House Judiciary Committee member Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) amid media reports that the former secretary of state’s advisers were considering keeping her on as Attorney General should Clinton win the White House in November. Lynch would not commit to continuing her work as attorney general beyond President Barack Obama’s administration, but also refused to rule out the possibility.
“I have no knowledge about the source of that statement nor have I had any conversations about that,” Lynch said when asked about the media report suggesting Clinton might consider asking her to stay on.
Ratcliffe followed up by asking if Lynch would continue to serve if asked, to which she responded that her “focus is on serving this administration.”
“I don’t care about your focus,” Ratcliffe replied. “Will you rule it out?”
“That matter is not before me,” Lynch said.
Ratcliffe’s questions were just some of many that Lynch refused to answer during her testimony Tuesday. The House Judiciary Committee summoned the attorney general to Capitol Hill looking for answers as to why the FBI did not recommend charges against Clinton over her use of a personal email server during her tenure as secretary of state. But Lynch declined to discuss the facts and legal precedents involved in the case, much to the irritation of GOP members upset about the lack of an indictment against Clinton.
Many Republicans, as well as some Democrats, were critical of Lynch earlier this month when she met privately with former President Bill Clinton inside her private plane on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Both Lynch and the Clinton campaign insisted that the meeting was purely social, focused on golf and grandchildren, but the fact that the two spoke privately was enough to rekindle concerns that the attorney general might seek to protect Hillary Clinton from criminal charges stemming from her email scandal.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.