Report: Justice Dept. blacks out talking points on Loretta Lynch-Bill Clinton tarmac meeting

by WorldTribune Staff, August 3, 2017

The Justice Department refused to disclose talking points developed by the Obama administration to help it respond to press inquiries about the June 27, 2016 tarmac meeting between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, a government watchdog group said.

Bill Clinton met with Loretta Lynch on a parked plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on June 27, 2016.

The Justice Department heavily redacted the documents obtained by Judicial Watch under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

“The blacked-out material centers around talking points drafted and used by Justice to respond to press inquiries about the Lynch-Clinton meeting,” Judicial Watch said in an Aug. 2 press release. The material was redacted “under Exemption b (5), which allows agencies to withhold draft or deliberative process material.”

Lynch met privately with Bill Clinton for approximately 30 minutes on board a parked plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The meeting occurred during the then-ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and only a few days before she was interviewed by the FBI.

Lynch later admitted that the meeting with Bill Clinton “cast a cloud” over the email investigation.

A week after the tarmac meeting, FBI Director James Comey called Hillary Clinton’s actions “extremely careless” but did not recommend charges and Lynch ended the criminal investigation.

“It is jaw-dropping that the Trump administration is blacking out key information about how the Obama Justice Department tried to spin Loretta Lynch’s scandalous meeting with Bill Clinton,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

“President Trump should order the full and immediate release of these materials.”


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