Sen. Tim Kaine argued Friday that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch urging former FBI Director James Comey to call the Hillary Clinton email case a “matter” is no longer an issue of concern.

“I thought that was irrelevant [at] the hearing yesterday — 2016 is over, this is about 2017,” The Virginia Democrat said on CNN. “2016 is in the rearview mirror, so now what we’re talking about is the sitting president of the United States and whether the admin took an action to fire the FBI director in a historic way, for a desire to take the pressure off the Russia investigation.”

During his testimony Thursday to the Senate Intelligence committee, Mr. Comey said then-Attorney General Lynch directed him to refer to the FBI probe of Democratic presidential candidate Mrs. Clinton’s email scandal as a “matter” instead of as an investigation, which he said confused and concerned him.

But Mr. Kaine said what he found to be more pressing was President Trump’s reason for firing Mr. Comey.

“What is his intent in taking that action? And yesterday’s testimony laid out very disturbing pieces of evidence about what that intent was,” he said. “I think this hearing is going to provide ample fodder for the ongoing Senate investigation but also for the special prosecutor.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

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