Loretta Lynch, the US Attorney General, announced she will not make the decision on whether to charge Hillary Clinton over her email scandal following a major row over impartiality.

President Barack Obamas's top lawyer found herself at the centre of a political storm after it emerged this week that she had met with Bill Clinton while the Department of Justice, which she heads, was investigating his wife.

The controversial 30-minute meeting took place on Ms Lynch's government plane while she and Mr Clinton were both at Phoenix airport.

Speaking in Aspen, Colorado Ms Lynch said she was mot recusing herself from the case but would rubber stamp recommendations made by prosecutors in her department and investigators at the FBI.

She said: "I will be accepting their recommendations. Certainly my meeting with him (Mr Clinton) raised questions. I completely get that question

"I certainly wouldn't do it again because it has cast a shadow and I take that seriously, deeply and painfully."

She hoped her statement would "give people faith in the ultimate decision".

The investigation into Mrs Clinton centres on whether she broke the law by using a private email server when she was US Secretary of State.