Acknowledging that her meeting this week with former president Bill Clinton had “cast a shadow” over her department’s investigation into his wife, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Friday that she “fully” expects to accept whatever recommendations she receives from career prosecutors investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

“The recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors in the Department of Justice and in the FBI, and by the FBI director, and then as is the common process, they present it to me and I fully expect to accept their recommendations,” Lynch told the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart in a discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.


“While I don’t have a role in those findings, in coming up with those findings or making those recommendations as to how to go forward, I will be briefed on it and I will be accepting their recommendations,” she continued.

Lynch’s decision comes days after an impromptu meeting with former President Bill Clinton aboard a private plane on a Phoenix airport tarmac, rekindling concerns that the investigation into the presumptive Democratic nominee could be compromised by political influence or at the very least present undesirable appearances. Clinton nominated Lynch to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 1999.

“I certainly wouldn't do it again. Because I think it has cast a shadow,” Lynch said of her meeting with Bill Clinton. “The most important thing for me as attorney general is the integrity of this Department of Justice. And the fact that the meeting I had is now casting a shadow over how people will view that work is something that I take seriously and deeply and painfully.”

The attorney general told reporters this week that the meeting was “primarily social” in nature and that the investigation into Hillary Clinton did not come up, but the fact that the two spoke privately at all was enough to reignite concerns that the probe into the presumptive Democratic nominee’s email might be subject to political influence.

An aide for President Clinton told POLITICO that he was in Phoenix as part of a seven-state fundraising swing, and while the conversation included talk about golf, the former president did not golf while on the trip. The meeting on the tarmac is a courtesy Bill Clinton often extends to other dignitaries, the aide said, comparing it to his visit with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on an Alabama tarmac or meeting House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) backstage at an event.

Lynch told Capehart that she had already decided on her role in the investigation months ago, long before her meeting with Bill Clinton. As far as when investigators might present their conclusions, Lynch said she did not know.

"In terms of timing, I actually don't know that because again, I don't have that insight into I would say the nuts and bolts of the investigation at this point in time," Lynch said. "They are working on it. They are working on it very hard. They are working on it to make sure they're as thorough as they can be, that they have covered every angle, that they have looked at every issue. They are doing the work that the people in the Department of Justice do every single day. And I could not be more proud of that work. And I could not be more proud to present that work to the American people when this matter is resolved and we can let people know the conclusion to this investigation."

While criticism of this week’s tarmac meeting between Lynch and Bill Clinton was bipartisan, Republicans have long complained that the Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server constitutes a conflict of interest by default. They have argued that Lynch, a Democratic political appointee, might seek to protect the Democratic presidential nominee.

President Barack Obama, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton, has repeatedly promised an independent investigation conducted by career prosecutors, free from political influence. But those pledges have not been enough to assuage the concerns of most Republicans. One leading critic has been Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), who this week renewed his call for a special prosecutor to handle the case.

Others on the right have alleged that the purpose of the tarmac summit was to improperly influence the investigation, pointing to the fact that Bill Clinton tapped Lynch to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 1999.

Matt Drudge has devoted copious attention to the flap, bannering headlines like "Lynch in a pinch" and "Does she flinch?" Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh devoted a long segment of Thursday's show to the controversy, even acting out an imaginary dialogue between Clinton and the attorney general.

"Nothing to see," said Limbaugh, in the guise of the former president. "Tell Comey: No matter what he wants, you don't have any evidence. That's it. It's been great seeing you. It was fun playing golf. I hope your grandkids are doing great. I hope you have a great time taking over the Phoenix Police Department. I gotta go. Don't forget what I told you, Loretta. And remember who put you here. Remember how you got here. And remember how easy, Loretta, it would be to send you somewhere else."

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, is escalating his attacks on Clinton and the handling of the investigation. He called the meeting “horrible” and “really a sneak” in a radio interview Thursday. In an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” later that evening, the real estate mogul was incredulous. “Well, when I first heard that yesterday afternoon, I actually thought they were joking,” he said of Lynch's meeting with the former president. “I said, no way. It’s just, no way that's going to happen. And it happened. And I am just, I'm flabbergasted by it. I think it's amazing. I've never seen anything like that before.”

Then on Friday morning, Trump attacked the judgment of both Clintons, tweeting that “Bill's meeting was probably initiated and demanded by Hillary!” Spokespeople for Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's campaign have declined to comment.

Even some Democrats are struggling to explain away the private talk between the attorney general and former president. Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN on Thursday that the meeting “doesn’t send the right signal” and David Axelrod, a former top aide to Obama, said it was “foolish to create such optics.” Both men said they took Lynch at her word when she told reporters Wednesday that her conversation with Bill Clinton did not constitute any breach of prosecutorial ethics and centered mostly on grandchildren, golf and travel.

But the controversy surrounding the Phoenix meeting has proven to be a headache for the White House, which offered a tacit admission Thursday that the meeting at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport created the perception of a conflict of interest.

"I think the question you're asking is entirely legitimate,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told a reporter who asked if the meeting raised doubts that the probe was being conducted without political influence. “And I think the question that was asked of Attorney General Lynch was entirely legitimate. That's why I think it was appropriate for her to give the direct answer that she did. And I think it was also important for her to continue to demonstrate her commitment to a principle that she's stood up for in her three decades in public service, and that is the primacy of the rule of law.”

At Friday's White House press briefing, Earnest said the president did not play a role in Lynch's decision to accept whatever recommendations she's given by the FBI prosecutors investigating Hillary Clinton, nor did he offer input on the attorney general's decision to make that announcement Friday. Earnest reiterated that it is the Obama's priority that the investigation's eventual conclusion be based on "evidence and nothing else."

"The president feels strongly that that is a decision that she should make without regard to his opinion about it. These are independent decisions that should be handled by the Department of Justice, and it's appropriate for the attorney general to determine what her role is and she's spoken to that today," Earnest said. "This is an independent investigation that is intentionally being shielded from any sort of political interference."

Other Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and his likely successor, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) backed Lynch and refused to acknowledge even the perception of impropriety.

"She's an honorable person, we know that," Schumer said of Lynch. "She has said nothing was discussed related to the investigation. So you have two choices: to say this didn't matter or that she's lying. I think that it didn't matter. I don't think she’s lying."

Nolan D. McCaskill and Tyler Pager contributed.

