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Lynch to Leave Decision to Prosecute Clinton to the FBI
Via the NYT:
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case. The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.
Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the F.B.I. was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case — one that could influence a presidential election.
More:
Published in GeneralHer reassurance that she will not overrule her investigators, however, is significant. When the F.B.I. sought to bring felony charges against David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director, for mishandling classified information and lying about it, Mr. Holder stepped in and reduced the charge to a misdemeanor. That decision created a deep — and public — rift.
Is this a face-saving way of recusing herself after her meeting with Bill Clinton?
So Lynch has obviously been told by Comey that the FBI won’t make any recommendations this year.
Mark Halperin of Bloomberg is reporting that DOJ is walking back the Times story and stating that Lynch will remain involved in the decisionmaking.
The only ethical thing to do would be for Lynch to formally announce her recusal and ask someone else to appoint a special counsel, delegated the full power of the AG, to oversee the investigation, as John Ashcroft did with the Valerie Plame investigation in 2003. The person who appointed special counsel in 2003, was Jame Comey, then Assistant AG.
The reasons go way beyond the Lynch meeting with Clinton, including that the current President, in whose administration Hillary served, and for whom Lynch works, has endorsed the subject of a criminal investigation and already publicly opined that no crime was committed, and that Hillary is about to be nominated as the Presidential candidate for Lynch’s party. It is already mind-boggling from an ethical perspective, that Lynch has not recused herself. On, the other hand, since it is the Obama Administration we are talking about, it is not surprising.
Mark,
I think you have a point.
Regards,
Jim
Follow up to No. 3, not a recusal:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/437395/loretta-lynch-recusal-hillary-clinton-email
Just one problem: It’s not true. Here’s Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin, citing a senior DOJ official: Attorney General Lynch reserves the right to overrule the recommendation of career prosecutors and the FBI in the Hillary Clinton email probe. This official says the probability she would overrule is “very, very low,” but it is not zero. In other words, Lynch is not “recusing herself,” as has been rumored, and she is not committing herself to the FBI’s recommendation. Despite the “furor,” nothing has changed. And, for the record, you can be sure that “very, very low” will be just high enough when the time comes.
It’s a setup for Lynch to maintain her political viability in the future. The meeting with Clinton was designed to allow herself to be removed from the decision-making process.
By leaving the decision to DOJ career prosecutors, Comey can save his future by recommending prosecution, and the career DOJ prosecutors can decline to prosecute Hillary on the grounds of “let the political process decide” (the election). As career DOJ prosecutors, they no doubt would be handsomely rewarded by Hillary Clinton’s AG . . .
+1. Or recommend no prosecution. There is no way that Clinton will be indicted. If Lynch removes herself as a possible barrier to that, it indicates foreknowledge of FBI plans.
The evidence is so blatant and overwhelming that what Clinton did was criminal and broke all rules regarding classified information that I..cynical as i am do not believe it possible that a team of FBI agents who i trust to be honorable people will refuse to do the right thing.Further if by chance the decision is made in a political way by the white house or even Comey himself I have to think that there would be a revolt at the FBI with tons of resignations and people speaking out etc…I simply do not see how it is possible for the FBI to come to any conclusion other than that she should be prosecuted….especially after the state department report and the e-mails that have recently come to light.Everything Clinton has said about this situation from day one has been a blatant lie and to let this whole thing slide would i think undermine any trust left in our institutions.As a result I expect the FBI to recommend a prosecution,where it goes from there is anybodies guess
The FBI has been slow-walking this investigation for months.
Unless Obama wants to drop a bomb on Clinton (admittedly a possibility), at this point I think it highly unlikely that the FBI will turn in a report until after the election.
Too close to the convention now, and afterwards too great a distraction from the election.
I think it highly unlikely that Clinton or any major player will ever suffer any meaningful consequences (defined as real jail time in a real jail).
Now consider. it will be either Trump or Clinton who will appoint the next Attorney General. Who do you prefer?
The issue has always been the foundation and favors sold. Mission accomplished. Democrats don’t care about national security, but they might be bothered by blatant corruption, sort of, not many, ok independents, but still they count, well depends on who is counting the votes.
Your keyboard to God’s inbox. The siren call of a steady paycheck and a government pension will keep a lot of people quiet.
Lynch’s announcement is simply confirmation that the fix is in – the FBI will announce that there are troubling aspects to Hillary’s private e-mail server and that mistakes were made, but that there’s not enough to justify an indictment. And she will then declare the matter over (which she’s already been doing) and breeze on to the presidency. Lynch wouldn’t have announced that she will not interfere in the FBI’s decision unless she had already interfered in the FBI’s decision. Bill Clinton strikes again!