A Democratic senator said Thursday that Attorney General Loretta Lynch should not have held a private meeting with former President Bill Clinton this week.
“I don’t think it sends the right signal. I think she should have steered clear even of a brief, casual, social meeting with the former president,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said on CNN’s “New Day.”
{mosads}Coons said he has been “impressed” by Lynch and her work since taking over the helm of the Justice Department last year, despite her meeting with Clinton.
“She has generally shown excellent judgment and strong leadership of the department, and I’m convinced that she is an independent attorney general,” he said.
Lynch raised eyebrows when news emerged Wednesday that the attorney general, who is overseeing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal server while secretary of State, met with Bill Clinton.
The pair met Monday night at the airport in Phoenix, with Lynch telling reporters that the pair discussed grandchildren, describing it as “primarily social.”
Lynch said the pair did not discuss the Clinton email investigation or the House Benghazi panel’s investigation, which was released the following day.
Still, the meeting continued to raise conflict of interest questions. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted Thursday morning that Lynch should “avoid even the appearance of conflict.”
Lynch & Clinton: Conflict of interest? An attorney,cannot represent two parties in a dispute and must avoid even the appearance of conflict.
— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 30, 2016
Pundits also ripped the meeting, with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough saying the pair showed “extraordinarily bad judgment” and co-host Mika Brzezinski asking sarcastically, “And they didn’t talk about it?”
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