After a firestorm of criticism on both the left and right for her secret meeting with former President Bill Clinton during an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Attorney General Loretta Lynch will announce Friday that she’ll step back and let non-political subordinates decide whether to bring charges against the former secretary of state. She will accept their decision.
“Determinations as to whether to charge any individual, as well as the findings of the investigation, will be made by career prosecutors and investigators who have been handling this matter since its inception,” a Justice Department official told Fox News.
The source said Lynch will accept the determinations and findings of non-political appointees as well as FBI investigators and FBI Director James Comey. It is up to the FBI to recommend to prosecutors whether to bring charges, but no timetable has been announced. Despite the approach of the Democratic National Convention, Comey has said the priority is to be thorough and fair.
Critics, including Republicans and some Democrats, said the meeting compromised the independence of the ongoing FBI investigation.
Lynch insisted the two only discussed grandchildren, their travels, and golf, but most weren’t buying it, pointing out the very obvious conflict of interest in the meeting.
She will announce her plan at a conference in Aspen, Colorado.