Oela. Got too close. [ laughter ] very serious look after that thanks for inviting us into your home after that fair balanced and unafraid. Here is greta. This is just par for the course. I dont know why any of us are surprised. She made a mistake. If even its 100 percent innocent, how could you be so tone deaf. It was primarily social and about our travels. He mentioned the golf he played in phoenix. Were supposed to believe here bill clinton played golf in phoenix where it was 108, 110degrees. Our conversation was a great deal about grandchildren. Sources say the private meeting at the airport lasted around 30 minutes. How many grand kids does clinton have . A lot of americans feel that this investigation is in the tank anyway. It just looks like the fix is in. Theyre not fools. They had to know that if this were uncovered this would be a normal reaction
to have. Benefits here. Well, its getting worse, outrage growing over the talks on the tarmac. Talking about Loretta Lynch and former president bill clinton meeting on monday. Guy they meet . It just got worse. On wednesday two, days after their tarmac meeting the doj asking a federal judge to stall for 27 more months the required production of thousands of emails from secretary clintons top aides to the clinton global initiative. Colonel allen west is standing by. First moments ago senator john cornyn went on the record. Senator, nice to you have join us. Good to be with you, greta. Senator, i dont think this is a close one but i will let you go first. What are your thoughts about the attorney general of the United States meeting privately with president bill clinton . Well, it looks really bad, greta. As you know as a lawyer, its not just the actual impropriety, its the appearance of impropriety
and, of course, just another reason why i dont think Loretta Lynch should take the lead in this investigation but should, rather, appoint a special counsel which is designed to provide a little bit of independence so that the public can be reassured that justice will be done and not just politics. Well, im a little youre quite, i guess, more reasonable than i am on this. Im a little hotter under the collar because i see this as profoundly awful. Its like meeting with a judge privately during the trial. This is a moment when she is going to have to make decisions whether to send the case to the grand jury or not. She has a lot of Big Decisions and she has given all of her all of secretary Hillary Clintons political enemies ammunition and she knows better. And the best she could do with the statement was say that it was primarily social. I dont know what primarily means but to me its astounding for the attorney general of the United States to do this. Well, i agree with you. Its really part of a larger
narrative about the clintons just acting like the rules that apply to you and everybody else dont apply to them. And certainly i would not have expected attorney general lynch, ache professional prosecutor that she is, to make a mistake like this. But it was a very serious mistake. I think it undermines Public Confidence that shes going to be an impartial prosecutor when it comes to the referral from the department of justice on the Hillary Clinton email affair. And i think she needs to hand it off to a special prosecutor. You know, i actually i dont think that the discussion was inappropriate. Because in my wildest dreams i cant believe those two would do that because that was over the charts bad. Meeting was overthecharts bad. Im not in favor of a special prosecutor. I think she should make a Public Statement today removing herself from this investigation and assigning it to her number two who is sally united yates. A career prosecutor. You dont think thats a
good route to go. That would be a good step there is a statutory special counsel provision as you know that applies in cases like this where the independence of the department of justice and the attorney general herself in this instance is reasonably questioned. She just provided additional rationale for that but what you suggested would be a step and, would i think, help reassure people that she is going to handle this well. The problem still persists though as you know the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president of the United States. The president does not want this investigation over Hillary Clintons email to go any further than the fbi. We still need to see what the fbi is going to do. I have confidence in director comey and the professionalism of the fbi, but i really worry when it comes to the politicization at the department of justice unfortunately now Loretta Lynch has just thrown another log on the fire. She certainly has poisoned the investigation. And no matter which way you fall on this story is that we want an honest and fair one. One that isnt poisoned by, you know, even the appearance of impropriety. If she refuses to assign it to to recuse herself and assign it to her deputy or refuses to look for a special prosecutor, should the president do anything . Because, look, we all know where this leads if she stays on the case. Absolutely. And i think one of the biggest problems, mrs. Clinton has, is people dont trust her. They dont believe she is trustworthy. They believe that the selfdealing that they have seen reported between the Clinton Foundation and she when she was secretary of state all of this creates is very negative impression. And i think we need to make sure that the air can be cleared as much as possible. This would reassure a lot of people if Loretta Lynch, the attorney general would just step up and do the right thing here. Either what you suggested which i think would be a step in the right direction or appoint a special counsel. I think both of those would be improvement if she does neither, should her boss, president obama say anything or do anything . Well, president obama has already claimed that he knows what the outcome of the investigation is. And we have been told by director comey that there is no communication between the fbi agents and the white house. So its clear the president is trying to preordain the outcome of this by saying he knows things he doesnt know and is he going to use all the influence he can to make sure that this indictment under the espionage act never occurs. So we know that politics is there. What we had not seen until now is really the terrible judgment on the part of the attorney general to engage in this private conversation with the target the husband of the target of this investigation and give the impression that, here again, the rules dont apply to the clintons like they apply to everybody else. I actually think this is unfair to secretary clinton because, if it turns out if it turns out that she did nothing wrong, violated no statue, that this would be
further poisoned by the fact that her husband and the attorney general spoke. If i were secretary clinton, i would say if the attorney general doesnt step aside or appoint a special prosecutor, she doesnt recuse herself, if i were secretary clinton, i would ask that she do that. I would make a Public Statement because, you know, she really cant afford to have this investigation dirtied up with all of that. Well, i agree that the appearances are bad either way. If she is vindicated or which she claims she has a right to be vindicated then this casts a further cloud over the investigation and or if she is really is worried about it, which i think she should be based upon the deposition testimony, including the claiming of the fifth amendment by the fellow who set up this private evale server, they think obviously they have got some problems or they would not have taken the fifth amendment, claiming a right against selfincrimination. This gets worse and worse for her. I think this is icing on the cake. And either way i think we need a special counsel or
some separation between the attorney general. If you are back at your old job as attorney general in texas, would you take yourself off the case . Thats one question or if you are in your old job as justice on the Supreme Court and issue came before you, is there any doubt in your mind that attorney general lynch should get off this case in some manner . No doubt in my mind. I think its the right thing to do. If she cares about the public impression of evenhanded administration of justice, which i believe she does, then she would realize that she has tainted the investigation one way or the other and really in an effort to restore Public Confidence that she ought to step down. To me, the whole thing is just appalling and thats why lawyers are up in arms. Lawyers, more than anybody else are calling for the attorney general to do this. Nayway, senator nice to see you, sir. Thanks, greta. Now, after that private meeting, heres what happen attorney general Loretta Lynch said they discussed. Our conversation was a great deal about his
grandchildren. It was primarily social and about our travels. And today a clearly agitated White House Press secretary was bombarded with questions over the meeting. Obviously have seen the reports about this and reports are driven by the answer that attorney general lynch herself gave to this question. Look, i think the bottom line is simply that both the president and the attorney general understand how important it is for the department of justice to conduct investigations that are free of political interference. By the way, did he really answer the question . The on the record Political Panel is here. Abc news political director rick cline and daily beast jackie kucinich. Rick, i didnt get an answer there from the press secretary. Or from the attorney general who said this is primarily social. Which i looked up is not 100 percent or completely it means mostly. Not entirely. The white house is not comfortable with this. Democrats not comfortable with this. There is not a good explanation. Political miscalculation by president clinton to think there wouldnt be blow back and potentially legal on behalf of the attorney general. The meeting never should have happened. I havent heard anybody that put forward any kind of explanation that explains why this was legitimate or advisable conversation to have. Right. I do believe that it was a chance encounter. I dont think this was planned at all. It was so stupid how it was carried out. That they ran into each other and kaboom. This just shows that bill clinton can be a blessing or curse on the campaign. Classic unforced error. Appearance of impropriety is just as bad as when the stakes are this high. Think about this. If, for instance, rick that it goes no furnished further, the email investigation that it is now buried is anyone on the conservative or even
democrats going to believe that the fix wasnt in . Of course not. No, they might not have anyway before given the fact that president obama endorsed Hillary Clinton and its his Justice Department that hasnt been separated but now you are adding another layer that just will undermine any findings that they have. Among those who have got to be upset by this have got to be career prosecutors and the Justice Department the people working on this. Even if they find nothing, now even that is going to be undermined. Its a major miscalculation on every level. I think secretary clinton should be upset. She is out campaigning or something, she finds out that her husband, you know, is talking to the attorney general of the United States on a case and when she is being investigated. I cant imagine brooklyn, the conversations in brooklyn were very happy after hearing about this. Because, what do you say . I mean, on its face its not great. She is going to have to if she answers questions from the press any time soon, she is going to have to answer questions about this. She is at a press conference, isnt she . No she is not. Why . Why because Hillary Clinton doesnt have press conferences like donald trump does all the time. One of the things he has got going on in favor. He will answer questions that may or may not be true. He will meet the press whenever they ask. When is the last press conference last september for Hillary Clinton. 200 and something days. Suspects not like she hasnt given one in a while. Full fledged press conference no. She doesnt like the interactions that she gets when she gives a full News Conference like that. She answers other questions from voters, occasional interviews, of course, nowhere near like the press access to trump. Its a legitimate question. We asked the campaign all day for a response. Didnt get anything. I think the white house response, you can read josh earnsts body language. There crawl out of the skin. This is not a comfortable situation. Should the president have a conversation with his attorney general and tell her to step aside on this case . I dont know if he will tell her to step aside. You cant imagine that there wasnt some kind of conversation going on after this came out. To me, this is a no brainer. Say, look, she cant she cant continue to be the head of this investigation. Be the chief prosecutor. I dont know why she is dragging her feet. Well, its up to her. And just the optics of this,
after the endorsement, then this meeting, of course, president obama and Vice President biden will both be on the trail with Hillary Clinton next week. So all of this is going to be muddled when there is feeblely an answer from the Justice Department. And none of this had to happen. No. All these its like this didnt have to happen. Talk about golf next year. Right. I dont talk about grandchildren. I dont know, whatever. But any time. Any way, rick, jack kirks thank you both. Thanks, greta. Thank you. It didnt take long. Donald trump jumping into the action. Here is he talking about the clinton, lynch meeting with sean hannity. When i first heard that yesterday afternoon, i actually thought they were joking. I thought the people that told me was, you know, i said no way. There is just no way thats going to happen. And it happened. And i am just im flabbergasted by it i think its amazing. I have never seen anything like that before. Former florida congressman alan west goes on the record. Good evening, sir. Good evening, greta. Everybody else is talking about it so what are your
thoughts between the meeting of the attorney general and the former president . Well, i think you dont look at this as an isolated incident but you look at it over the past two to three weeks you have Loretta Lynch who came out and said she was going to redact Key Information out of the transcripts from the orlando terrorist shooting, the 9 11 calls made by the jihadist attacker. You also now have found out that her fbi is telling Law Enforcement agencies in florida, against the state constitution, not to cooperate with News Agencies down there and turn over any type of information. And then as well we know about the compassion unity and love comment that she made about the best response to terrorism. So, this has been a two or three weeks that have been very bad for Loretta Lynch it seems there is a problem with her competence. It seems there is a problem with her credibility after this meeting with bill clinton and i dont know if you can look at her as being able to carry out the duties that she is supposed to as the top 4r5u6r789 officer in Law Enforcement officer in the United States of
america. What should happen . Well, lets look at it from their perspective. We are about to go into the 240 Independence Day weekend for the United States of america. They just believe that they can wait this thing out and when they come out on the other side next week tuesday it, will be forgotten. Think about the fact we are hearing very little about the orlando taste attack. But what really should happen is that she should recuse herself. You did bring up a very important thing that Hillary Clinton should come out and disavow the meeting but she is going to try to lay low because, i guarantee you, if you look at some of the other News Agencies and news outlets here in the United States of america, they are probably not talking about this whatsoever. Not that she should disavow the meeting. What she should do. My advice to secretary clinton she certainly doesnt ask for my advice. I didnt do it. I wasnt at the meeting. In light the fact that it happened and it was a dumb idea that it happened i think that since my emails are being investigated by the fbi and thus by theJustice Department, i would ask that attorney general lynch assign this case to her deputy. That she have no more involvement because she is trying to get the poison off. This thats what i would do. But even if it goes to a deputy, that deputy is still within the Obama Department of justice. And we know that there is still going to be some type of tainted perspective. I think if you wanted this to be seen as credible and valid. You have to look at some type of outside independent counsel. There so no doubt about it but then you are also asking Hillary Clinton to throw her husband, bill clinton under the bus. And bill clinton is probably the best asset that she has going out there on the trail. But i dont think throwing him under the bus it is saying that this was really a stupid thing to do. I mean, i dont think thats pretty much throwing the former president