Dan Nowicki

The Republic | azcentral.com

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has become the center of political intrigue this week after revelations of an impromptu meeting there between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, whose U.S. Department of Justice is investigating his wife Hillary Clinton's email controversy.

Lynch was in Phoenix on Tuesday to visit the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy as part of her national community-policing tour. As she arrived, she got word that Bill Clinton was at the airport and wanted to greet her.

"I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport as I was leaving, and he spoke to myself and my husband on the plane,'' Lynch later said, according to USA TODAY. "Our conversation was a great deal about his grandchildren. It was primarily social and about our travels.''

The conversation also apparently touched on Clinton's former attorney general, Janet Reno, "but there was no discussion of any matter pending for the department or any matter pending for any other body," Lynch told reporters.

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Hillary Clinton is this year's presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Because the FBI is looking into her use of a personal email server while secretary of State, the news of her husband's meeting with Lynch in Phoenix caught fire Thursday in the conservative media, where it was cast as a potential conflict of interest.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, ripped the meeting Thursday in a radio interview.

"They actually went onto the plane, as I understand it," Trump told conservative host Mike Gallagher. "... It was really a sneak. It was really something that they didn’t want publicized as I understand it. ... I think it’s so terrible. I think it’s so horrible. I think it's one of the biggest stories of this week, of this month, of this year."

Josh Earnest, President Barack Obama's press secretary, was asked about Lynch's meeting with Bill Clinton.

"She was asked about it directly. And she answered the question directly about what exactly transpired," Earnest said. "And so, you know, she's spoken to this. I don't have any insight into that meeting. I also don't have any insight into the investigation. But the president's view is that this is an investigation that should be conducted free of any sort of political interference, and the attorney general has indicated that that's exactly her expectation as well."

Clinton's campaign indicated to The Republic that it agreed with Lynch's characterization of the meeting, but otherwise had nothing to add. A Phoenix Sky Harbor spokeswoman also could provide no additional details, saying its staff was not even precisely sure where at the airport the meeting took place.

An aide for Bill Clinton also backed up Lynch's account, adding that the former president routinely extends greetings to Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and other dignitaries when he runs across them. The meeting was not prearranged — it happened spontaneously after Clinton and Lynch realized they were both on the same tarmac in Arizona, the aide said.

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Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.