Judicial Watch: DOJ Won’t Release Records About the ‘Tarmac Meeting’

Last June, when then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and President Bill Clinton just happened to meet on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, they said it was a coincidence and that they certainly never discussed the ongoing investigation into Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The folks at Judicial Watch, like most Americans, didn’t buy it.

“Lynch met privately with former President Bill Clinton on board a parked plane,” the government watchdog group said in a press release announcing it had filed yet another Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice.” The meeting occurred during the then-ongoing investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s 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 Justice Department/FBI investigation. Not long afterward, FBI Director James Comey called Hillary Clinton’s actions ‘extremely careless,’ but did not recommend charges.”

In its filing, Judicial Watch states it is seeking the following documents, which it originally requested via a FOIA demand on June 29, 2016:

• All records and/or transcripts of a meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton in June 2016.
• All records of communication sent to or from officials in the Office of the Attorney General regarding the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton in June 2016.
• All records of communication sent to or from officials in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton in June 2016.
• All references to the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton contained in day planners, calendars and schedules in the Office of the Attorney General.

“The infamous tarmac meeting between President Clinton and AG Lynch is a vivid example of why many Americans believe the Obama administration’s criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton was rigged,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Now it will be up to Attorney General Sessions at the Trump Justice Department to finally shed some light on this subversion of justice.”

Judicial Watch has also requested the Justice Department Inspector General investigate the tarmac meeting. {eoa}