James Comey, left, Loretta Lynch, right. (Photo: Reuters)
The Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating former Attorney General Loretta Lynch for alleged obstruction of justice in the Clinton email investigation. The probe comes after former FBI Director James Comey admitted Lynch directed him to call the probe a “matter,” not an investigation, as People’s Pundit Daily first reported on May 11.
Prior to that, on April 22, 2017 the New York Times had reported the FBI obtained an email in which then-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed Lynch had been in private communication with Clinton campaign staffer Amanda Renteria. The email says Lynch assured her the case would not result in prosecution.
Then, the Washington Post on May 24, 2017 reported an email sent by Wasserman Schultz to Leonard Benardo of the Open Society Foundations indicated that Lynch had privately assured Renteria that the FBI’s investigation wouldn’t “go too far.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Ranking Member, sent Lynch a letter asking her to provide relevant documents “by July 6, 2017.” Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., also attached their names.
The letters that went out to Lynch and Bernardo, Open Society Foundations’ General Counsel Gail Scovell and Renteria, the committee members wanted details about reported communications, copies of any related documents and to know whether the FBI contacted them to investigate the alleged communication.
To Renteria, the most relevant question was as follows:
What communications, if any, did you have with then-Attorney General Lynch, her staff, her associ.ates, or any other Department of Justice officials in 2015 and 2016 related to the Clinton email investigation? Please describe the communications and provide all related records.
To Bernardo, the most relevant question was as follows:
Have you ever had communications with Rep. Wasserman Schultz, her staff, or her associates, about then-Attorney General Lunch’s role in the Clinton email investigation? If so, please describe the communications and provide all records of them.
To Scovell, the most relevant question was as follows:
What communications, if any, did Mr. Benardo have with Rep. Wasserman Schultz, her staff, her associates, or any other current or former DNC officials related to any representations then-Attorney General Lynch may have made related to the Clinton email investigation? Please provide any records, including emails, notes, memoranda, and recordings, related to such communications.
All were also asked whether they had been contacted by the FBI under Comey regarding the allegations or provided them with any documents pertaining to the communications.
Comey had also briefed high-ranking members of the aforementioned committees on documents he discovered indicating that Lynch was obstructing the case. When he approached the former attorney general, he was all but thrown out of her office without a response.
He also testified about the secret meeting between Bill Clinton and Lynch on a tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. But Comey reportedly began discussing plans to announce the end of the Clinton email investigation rather than referring it to the Justice Department (DOJ) for a prosecutorial decision, an action that violated protocol and was later cited as the main reason for his removal as FBI director.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein describe Comey’s actions as overstepping his authority.
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