The long-awaited Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General’s (IG) report on the FBI’s mishandling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation was released on Thursday, and part of it dealt with former President Bill Clinton.
Specifically, the report delved into the June 2016 Phoenix airport tarmac meeting between the former president and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and looked to see if it had improperly influenced the investigation — an allegation Bill Clinton apparently found offensive.
Clinton gets defensive
According to the Washington Examiner, the former president was interviewed for the IG report about the tarmac meeting and his potential influence of the investigation into his wife’s scandalous private email server arrangement, but Bill Clinton claimed to be “offended” that anyone would suspect he would do such a thing.
“I thought, you know, I don’t know whether I’m more offended that they think I’m crooked or that they think I’m stupid,” Clinton said in his interview with regard to the media speculation about what exactly was discussed during the secret meeting.
“I’ve got an idea,” Clinton continued sarcastically, “I’ll do all these things they accuse me of doing in broad daylight in an airport in Phoenix when the whole world can see it in front of an Air Force One crew and I believe one of her security guards.”
But the meeting didn’t occur where the whole world was able to see it, at least not intentionally — as the meeting was intended to be a secret, and there was an effort to cover it up and downplay it afterwards.
In fact, were it not for a local reporter being tipped off by a local law enforcement official while the roughly 30-minute meeting occurred, it is highly likely that nobody would have ever even known it went down.
Still in denial
Former President Clinton was asked during the interview if he had discussed with Lynch the details of the investigation into his wife’s email situation, or if he had broached the possibility of Lynch holding some sort of high-level position within a theoretical Clinton administration.
“It was an interesting proposition, but no we did not,” Clinton stated of the speculative topics of discussion.
Clinton added that he was “very superstitious” about discussing certain things, and said, “I never discuss anything like that. I want everybody to focus on the matter at hand and I thought the environment was much more volatile than a lot of people did.”
[show_poll poll_id=432]
Bill Clinton can claim to be “offended” all he wants about the speculation that arose with regard to his secretive meeting with Lynch, but he shouldn’t be surprised that his family’s shady history will lead people to assume they are up to shady things when acting secretively.
Clinton’s snarky and highly defensive response to the speculation about that meeting only helps fuel suspicion that something untoward was discussed in that meeting, and inquiring minds like ours would love to one day learn all of the details.