Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who served under President Barack Obama, pressured then-FBI Director James Comey to downplay the Hillary Clinton email investigation to the public – and he complied.
During his testimony under oath in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee about the Russia investigation, Comey said that Lynch asked him to refer to the Hillary Clinton email server probe as a “matter,” and not an “investigation.”
Comey said Thursday that Lynch told him to “call it a matter,” referring to the existence of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and that Lynch would not provide an explanation as to why. “Just call it a matter,” Comey said Lynch told him.
The directive “concerned me, because that language tracked the way the [Hillary Clinton] campaign was talking about the FBI’s work, and that’s concerning,” Comey said on Thursday.
Rather disturbing interchange in light of the revelation of #LorettaLynch order to follow #HRC campaign narrative… pic.twitter.com/PIs1WYdjFv
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 9, 2017
Comey also said he worried about the directive because it was not true, and that it matched up with the Clinton campaign’s spin on the subject.
“I don’t know whether it was intentional or not, but it gave the impression that the attorney general was looking to align the way we talked about our work with the way the political campaign was describing the same activity, which was inaccurate,” Comey said on Thursday.
However, Comey and the FBI did comply with the order – because it “wasn’t a hill worth dying on,” Comey said.
The FBI confirmed in a February 2016 letter that the agency was “working on matters related to former Secretary [Hillary] Clinton’s use of a private email server.”
Some people on Twitter had choice words about this revelation involving Lynch and Comey – including that they “committed perjury” and Lynch “obstructed justice.”
So today was supposed to take down Trump. Instead, Comey admitted he and Loretta Lynch committed perjury. Wow. What a plot twist.
— Jack Murphy (@RealJack) June 8, 2017
Comey testified #LorettaLynch obstructed justice! Congress needs to put her under oath!
— Gunslinger Girl (@USA_Gunslinger) June 8, 2017
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