President Obama’s long-stalled nominee for attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has refused to commit to investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email secrecy scandal if confirmed as America’s top cop.

Responding to a question submitted by Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, Mrs. Lynch said in a letter Thursday that she didn’t have enough information to form an opinion about investigating Mrs. Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email account to conduct official business at the State Department.

“In my current role as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, my awareness of this issue has been limited to media reports and therefore, I do not have enough information at this time to determine whether action by the Department of Justice is warranted,” wrote Mrs. Lynch.

Mrs. Clinton, who entered the 2016 presidential race this week as the undisputed frontrunner for he Democratic nomination, may have violated federal open-records laws by using private email hosted by a server in her home, which she wiped clean of all but select emails amid the scandal.

Mr. Vitter said the nominee’s response “gives me no confidence that she will hold the administration accountable for these sorts of coverups.”

“Hillary Clinton’s decision to destroy public records is a huge problem, and failure to investigate these practices sets a dangerous precedent for the Administration moving forward,” said Mr. Vitter, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Vitter voted against Mrs. Lynch when her nomination passed the committee Feb. 26.

Since then, the confirmation vote has been snagged in a partisan fight over unrelated legislation and blocked from reaching the floor by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.