Bill Clinton’s secret meeting with Loretta Lynch sparks criticism

Former US President Bill Clinton’s secret meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch amid a federal probe into former first lady Hillary Clinton’s email case has spurred bipartisan questions, forcing Lynch to step back from the case.

The private meeting took place this week at the Phoenix airport, when Clinton found out that Lynch was there, people familiar with the matter told American media.

The two then spoke for 20 minutes in Lynch’s government jet, in the presence of Lynch’s husband.

The meeting was apparently not scheduled as Lynch was in the city to meet with local police departments, while the former president had attended a fundraising event for his wife’s presidential campaign. She is running as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Lynch denied addressing the email case in the meeting, saying that she only talked about grandchildren, their travels and the UK’s exit from the European Union.

However, that explanation did nothing to prevent bipartisan criticism, with key Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton calling the visit a strategic mistake.

David Axelrod, who helped President Barack Obama shape his winning presidential campaigns as a senior strategist, said in a tweet that even if the meeting was not over the case, it was still “foolish to create such optics.”

Patti Solis-Doyle, Hillary’s campaign manager in her 2008 presidential bid, also said that the meeting was “inappropriate and it shouldn’t have happened on both their parts.”

On the Republican side, some of the heaviest attacks came from former US House representative Newt Gingrich who was the Republican House Speaker during attempts to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998.

“It makes it look like the fix is in and the Obama administration is going to protect Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump also reacted to the meeting, saying it smelled of a conspiracy.

"I’m flabbergasted by it, I think it’s amazing, I’ve never seen anything like that before,” added the real estate mogul.

'I won't interfere in Clinton email probe'

Following the reactions, Lynch on Friday announced her intention to take some distance from the case and accept the FBI’s findings.

"The recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors in the Department of Justice and in the FBI, and by the FBI director," Lynch said at a conference in Colorado.

"And then as is the common process, they present it to me, and I fully expect to accept their recommendations."

Obama has officially endorsed Clinton and is due to attend some of her campaign events in the coming days.

He had on several occasions hinted at backing Clinton’s White House bid, with his administration going so far as blocking the release of significant documents in her email case.

During her tenure as the top US diplomat between 2009 and 2013, Clinton sent and received more than 30,000 emails using a private email server at her home in New York, 2,100 of them classified.

The FBI has launched an investigation into the case, asking some of Clinton’s top aides in for questioning.

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