Attorney General Lynch Stonewalls House Judiciary Committee

Washington, D.C.  – At today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice,” members of the Committee had many questions about Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s failure to uphold the law by not prosecuting Secretary Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information on private email servers. Attorney General Lynch abdicated her responsibility as chief law enforcement officer by refusing to answer the vast majority of questions posed by members of the Committee on the investigation. Takeaways:

• Attorney General Lynch refused to answer the vast majority of questions regarding the Justice Department’s decision not to charge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—even the most basic questions about the legal elements the government is obligated to prove in a criminal prosecution.

• Instead of providing the Judiciary Committee with the candor provided to Congress last Thursday by FBI Director Comey, Attorney General Lynch instead dodged her responsibility to be forthright to Congress by referring members to the statements of her subordinate.

• Half way through the hearing, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte paused to admonish Attorney General Lynch for her abdication of responsibility to answer the Committee’s questions about the Department’s determination not to prosecute Secretary Clinton and failure to uphold the rule of law.

• Attorney General Lynch testified that it is important to use official email to do official business in order to secure important information. She stated that she uses official email to conduct official business and uses a separate classified system to send classified email to protect the information.

• Members questioned why military service members have been prosecuted under the same law for much less egregious acts but Hillary Clinton gets off free.

Key Videos:House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) opening statement and exchange with Attorney General Lynch: “ “Were a rank-and-file federal employee to do what Secretary Clinton did, they would face severe punishment, including termination, revocation of security clearances, or criminal prosecution.  Even Director Comey acknowledged this fact at a recent congressional hearing. But Secretary Clinton is not facing prosecution for her actions. This defies logic and the law.” “Given that Secretary Clinton was a political appointee of your current boss, and more importantly the wife of your previous boss, why did you not see fit to recuse yourself from the investigation?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wAHU2wabHw Attorney General Lynch refuses to answer Representative Jason Chaffetz’s (R-UT) questions about whether it is legal or illegal to share classified information with a person who does not have a security clearance.“There’s a difference between prosecuting something and whether it’s legal or illegal. These questions are pretty simple. We’ve got millions of people with security clearances. How are they supposed to go through the gyrations that you’ve laid out in order to make a simple determination? … I’m asking if it’s legal or illegal to share classified information with someone who doesn’t have a security clearance.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGetpVY5mrc&feature=youtu.be Representative Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) exchange with Attorney General Lynch:“The public has to have confidence in the justice system. So this dual track – different set of rules for certain people and for others – it frankly should not matter whether you are running for president or running late to a kid’s ball game. The same rules ought to apply to everyone …“People still believe that if you are famous there is a different set of rules than if people don’t know your name. You are missing a wonderful opportunity to say with specificity which evidentiary element you found lacking.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPtrp4BYNbM&feature=youtu.be ###