Donald Trump accuses Barack Obama’s former Attorney General Loretta Lynch of illegal activity
Ms Lynch served in Mr Obama's second term
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has accused former Attorney General Loretta Lynch of illegal behaviour and of giving special treatment to his Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.
In one of a series of tweets in which the President also repeated his criticism of the media, Mr Trump said that Ms Lynch, who served as Attorney General during Barack Obama’s second term, had “made law enforcement decisions for political purposes".
“Gave Hillary Clinton a free pass and protection. Totally illegal,” he said.
Mr Trump made his comments on Twitter after the appearance last week of former FBI Director James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee. During his appearance, Mr Comey said that Mr Trump had “directed” him to drop an investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
He also confirmed Mr Trump’s claim that he had told the President that he was not personally under investigation as part of the probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia's alleged attempt to influence the election.
Yet Mr Comey also talked about Ms Lynch, who succeeded Eric Holder as Attorney General. He said that when he was investigating Ms Clinton's use of a private email server during the 2016 presidential campaign, Ms Lynch “directed me not to call it an investigation but instead to call it a matter”.
He said that instruction, taken with a private tarmac meeting with former president Bill Clinton at Phoenix ahead of the FBI's impending decision on whether Ms Clinton may have criminally mishandled classified information, raised Mr Comey’s ethics radar. As a result, he decided to announce the FBI’s findings ahead of schedule.
“That was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude: I have to step away from the department if we're to close this case credibly,” said Mr Comey said.
He was asked why he had not pushed back on those requests and Mr Comey said he had concluded: “This isn’t a hill worth dying on, and so I just said, ‘Okay’.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments