The Department of Justice is refusing to release details about talking points used to explain the secret meeting between former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and President Bill Clinton last summer. The meeting took place on Lynch's private plane just days before FBI Director James Comey announced Hillary Clinton would not face charges for storing and transmitting highly classified information on a private server during her time as Secretary of State.
From Judicial Watch, whose lawyers filed a FOIA lawsuit to get the information:
Judicial Watch today announced that the Justice Department refuses to disclose the talking points developed by the Obama Justice Department to help it respond to press inquiries about the controversial June 27, 2016, tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The Justice Department heavily redacted the documents under Exemption b (5), which allows agencies to withhold draft or deliberative process material. The blacked-out material centers around talking points drafted and used by Justice to respond to press inquiries about the Lynch-Clinton meeting.
Former FBI Director James Comey said during congressional testimony earlier this year the Lynch/Clinton meeting prompted him to be unusually transparent about the Bureau's criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton. Lynch also admitted the meeting was improper, but maintains the only topics discussed with the former President were grandchildren and golf.
“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,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton released in a statement. “President Trump should order the full and immediate release of these materials.”
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