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Lynch closes Clinton case

 
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who testifies next week, said the Department of Justice won’t file any charges.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who testifies next week, said the Department of Justice won’t file any charges.
Published July 7, 2016

WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed Wednesday that the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state will be closed without criminal charges.

The announcement brings to a formal end a probe that for months dogged the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's campaign.

But Republicans signaled that they would continue to push hard through committee hearings and other means to make the email controversy a central part of their critique of Clinton as untrustworthy and unreliable:

• Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee scheduled a hearing today to question FBI director James Comey about his findings that "no reasonable prosecutor" would bring a criminal case against Clinton or her staffers, even though investigators found "evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information."

• House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said Wednesday that he believes that the presumptive Democratic nominee received preferential treatment from the FBI and that she should be denied classified briefings because she was "so reckless" in her handling of her emails. The White House brushed that aside. Press secretary Josh Earnest said it's a "longstanding tradition" for major party presidential nominees to receive such briefings — and indicated that practice is almost certain to continue.

• Lynch is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia has made it clear he will focus on Lynch's impromptu meeting with former President Bill Clinton on an airprot tarmac.

Comey's findings, announced Tuesday, effectively ended any hopes Clinton's opponents might have had for an indictment, though Comey said final authority technically rested with the Justice Department, which announced its decision in a brief statement from Lynch.

"Late this afternoon, I met with FBI director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email system during her time as secretary of state. I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation," the attorney general said.

Spokesmen for Clinton's campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. After Comey recommended that no charges be filed, spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement: "We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the Department is appropriate. As the Secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she would not do it again. We are glad that this matter is now resolved."

Meanwhile, Clinton's political rivals seized on the FBI director's critique of the former secretary of state.

Earlier in the day, before the attorney general's announcement, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, suggested on Twitter that Clinton might eventually be punished.

"Crooked Hillary Clinton lied to the FBI and to the people of our country," Trump posted. "She is sooooo guilty. But watch, her time will come!"

Lynch had promised last week that she would accept whatever findings career prosecutors and FBI agents made in the case, and that Comey — who has a reputation as an independent thinker in Washington — would have input.

That vow came just days after Lynch and former president Bill Clinton met aboard the attorney general's plane at an airport in Phoenix in what both said was a chance, social encounter, but one that nonetheless sparked criticism about whether politics might influence the investigation.

Information from the New York Times and thehill.com was used in this report.