AG Lynch’s husband present during private meeting with Bill Clinton
Media and Congress, do your jobs.
There are many things that raise serious questions about the meeting between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the husband of a woman under FBI investigation, namely Bill Clinton.
As I wrote yesterday, Gross appearance of impropriety in AG Lynch private meeting with Bill Clinton:
Neither Lynch nor Bill Clinton are dummies. They both know that such a private meeting creates the appearance of impropriety regardless of what was discussed. Bill Clinton’s wife is being investigated by the FBI — why do you think he dropped in for a chat with Lynch?
Of course they didn’t discuss the case. They didn’t need to.
If there was no appearance of impropriety, why did Lynch wait until a local news crew, apparently tipped off, asked her about it?
I don’t think enough media focus has been on the non-disclosure. If not for the media tip-off, no one would have known the meeting took place except for Lynch, Clinton, and security details. And none of them are going to go on the record, at least not now.
Most damning part Lynch-Bill Clinton get together didn't announce it until asked at presser https://t.co/FjcHt818SR pic.twitter.com/klF11AmCje
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) June 30, 2016
One other thing evaded my attention the first time around. There was one other person present, Lynch’s husband.
Take a look back at the original ABC15 report (emphasis added):
The private meeting took place on the west side of Sky Harbor International Airport on board a parked private plane.
Former President Clinton was visiting the Phoenix area and arrived to Sky Harbor Monday evening to depart.
Sources tell ABC15 Clinton was notified Lynch would be arriving at the airport soon and waited for her arrival.
Lynch was arriving in Phoenix for a planned visit as part of her national tour to promote community policing.
ABC15 asked Lynch about the meeting during her news conference at the Phoenix Police Department.
“I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport as he was leaving and spoke to myself and my husband on the plane,” said Lynch.
In my original analysis, I took as a given that nothing improper was said, but took the position that the mere meeting obviously was arranged by Clinton to influence Lynch.
That is a position presumed by many.
I take @LorettaLynch & @billclinton at their word that their convo in Phoenix didn't touch on probe. But foolish to create such optics.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 30, 2016
It’s unimaginable that Lynch would have lied in her press conference, but why should the public, the media and the Congressional committees with oversight over such matters simply take Lynch’s word for it? Isn’t oversight the process not only of finding out information, but also verifying information already disclosed by public officials?
Moreover, more than the words stated matter.
What was the atmosphere? Old friends with a warm greeting suggesting an affinity by Lynch for the Clintons? A professional demeanor? Or anything else that would suggest that beyond the words, the nature of the meeting suggested an improper motive by Clinton?
There are plenty of facts not yet known, that could be disclosed by aggressive media digging (the type applied to Republicans) and congressional subpoenas. There are at least three people with knowledge — AG Lynch, her husband, and Clinton.
Given that the outcome of a presidential election may turn on whether DOJ fairly and impartially evaluates the evidence against Hillary, the public has an enormous stake in finding out every aspect of this almost-off-the-record sit down on the tarmac in Lynch’s private plane between the chief law enforcement officer of the United States and the husband of a presidential candidate under FBI investigation.
Media and Congress, do your jobs.
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Comments
Media and Congress, do your jobs.
Don’t hold your breath. . . .
I’ve rather come to the conclusion that most in the media think their job is electing Democrats.
Media & congress do your jobs? With the exception of ABC Arizona 15 there is no evidence either knows how to do their jobs anymore. They’ve both been in the tank for so long both now have vestigial fins & flippers.
I believe Loretta when she says they didn’t discuss the investigation.
I think they were just discussing the terms of Loretta’s payoff. A seat on the board of the Clinton Foundation after Loretta steps down as AG, so she and her hubby can get in on some of that sweet, sweet Clinton Crime Family graft?
How many other secret meetings have there been?
They were discussing the amount of money Bill can retain when the hammer falls on the Clinton Foundation. My guess is $200 million or so, with the rest going to th Michelle Obama presidential campaign fund. Hillary is toast.
Now in a TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY UNRELATED STORY, Lynch has announced they are withholding emails between the Clinton Foundation and their PR firm for 27 months.
You can’t make this shit up. These people seriously have no shame. Blatant fucking corruption, and the media does nothing.
Why is this even a story? This is standard for a Socialist banana republic like Venezuela or the United States.
Back to the fray, Trey.
Meeting on a private plane. Hmmmm. Why would one chat in a private plane if one isn’t actually flying somewhere?
Maybe because it’s the only available environment which is safe from any sort of eavesdropping, that’s why. No lip-readers sitting behind telephoto lenses, no directional microphones, and no radio bugs if a competent private security firm has recently sanitized it.
A car is second best … but not a very close second.
And Bill Clinton was in Phoenix golfing. Seriously? The man with a history of serious heart problems flies from NY to Phoenix to golf during a month when the temperatures are in the triple digits every day? Either Bill has a death wish, or this story is BS.
Good catch. Having been in Phoenix a number of times in the summer it’s hell. Though as a dry hell you don’t feel the lap of each flame as much. Or so it’s said.
It could be Slick was preparing for life after life. Only then he’ll never be shed of Hillary. That’s why it’s hell.
I live in AZ. Been here since ’92. Once it gets over 110 degrees, it doesn’t really matter how “dry” the heat it, it’s still damn hot.
IF you’re out shortly after daybreak and for the next few hours, it’s really quite pleasant. Especially for a fella from Houston.
A very astute observation
Now, 3 days later, the DOJ intervenes for the State Department, asks the court to delay the response for FOIA materials for 20+ months claiming lack of manpower to process Clinton Foundation and Tuneo Holdings related e-mail documents.
Now, I don’t quite understand where the DOJ should be filing motions for the State Department.
Do I have this right?
I am afraid I do.
Of course her husband was there. Who would trust Bill Clinton to be alone with their wife.
Bill and Loretta’s husband had the conversation about the investigation of H->illary!. Loretta just listened and chatted with her husband.
“It’s unimaginable that Lynch would have lied in her press conference”. Please tell me that was sarcasm.
She has a secret meeting with Bill Clinton on a private plane and is surprised to get a question about it at the press conference. Her first instinct is to lie about it as she hasn’t had time to get her story from the WH.
I just have to ask, what kind of imbecile takes Bill Clinton at his word?
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky….”
Meeting did not take place on Lynch’s plane but on an unoccupied one in a hanger. Whose plane was it?
Whatever your opinion of her integrity, you have to admit AG Lynch is on the ball. To wit, consider how fast she found the 50 pounds that Marie Osmond lost!
There is no indication that that the husband was present (ie, involved) for the entire half hour. He could have greeted Willy and then been dismissed. It shouldn’t take much digging to either find a golf course that Willy played or prove that he didn’t–how ’bout we just ask him? Troon North? The Boulders? Grayhawk? Get the tail numbers of the planes and track their movements. Check the ground controllers’ tapes. Dig, dig.
I know we say this over and over again… but if they had Rs after their names instead of Ds, do you think the reaction would be different?
Bill Clinton is a Yale Law graduate and former law professor at Arkansas. He could ostensibly be acting as Hillary’s counsel and there would be nothing improper about a meeting between a putative defendant and a prosecutor such as Lynch. White collar criminal defense attorneys get their best licks in BEFORE the case goes to the grand jury, by heading off an indictment while the prosecutor still has discretion. Once the grand jury hands down an indictment, the case has to go forward, either to a plea, a conviction, an acquittal or a dismissal.
That’s plausible enough til you hit the wall at the covert airport meeting.
Meetings between defense counsel and prosecutors occur all the time and they are never publicized. Over 90% of criminal cases end with plea agreements, and the meetings that produce those agreements never see the light of day. Defense counsel is often trying to get out in front of a possible indictment (“nothing to see here”) and doesn’t want the client tainted with accusations that won’t support a true bill. Here, the accusations are already public, and the potential defendant is already being tried (and convicted) in the press, but that doesn’t relieve defense counsel of the responsibility to manage the case properly, out of the limelight to the extent possible.
That’s just happy bullshit.
Why? Because your plain vanilla criminal case does not involve a former (disgraced as a perjurer) POTUS and the Attorney General meeting in a covert setting, and implicate a candidate for POTUS.
You’ve implied several times in the last few hours that Dollar Bill is acting as Hellary’s defense counsel. Back that up. Factually.
We have come to expect nothing but impropriety from everyone one in this administration.
… and have yet to be disappointed.
I’m just catching up on this since I don’t have cable television and do have a day job, but this all seems too convenient. Two high power attorneys like Lynch and Clinton fully understand what this meeting, innocent or not, means. Word leaked that she was going to accept the FBI recommendation to indict. Clinton goes into full covert ops mode. He corners her on the plane in order to discuss her options after she steps down due to the impropriety he just contrived. Obama and the Clintons handpick her replacement who says that he/she needs a few months to review the case since they just took the position. November comes and goes with no indictments. Problem solved.
Wasn’t Slick Willy disbarred after the purgery conviction and impeachment?