Labor Secretary Tom Perez on Friday defended Attorney General Loretta Lynch for meeting with former President Bill Clinton on his parked private plane at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport earlier this week.
Perez, a long-time friend to Lynch, insisted during his interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd that the meeting was “not planned in advance” and was adamant the two parties ran into each other on the tarmac.
“This was, as I understand it, a chance meeting where they ran into each other on, I think, the tarmac of an airport. This wasn’t, ‘I called you up and said, can we meet next Wednesday at 3:00?’ It was a chance meeting at the airport. And anyone who knows Bill Clinton knows that if he runs into someone at the airport, by chance, he’s going to come up and say hello to them,” Perez said.
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump insisted Thursday the impromptu meeting, even if it was about golf and grandchildren, still sends the public the wrong message in light of Hillary Clinton’s pending FBI investigation about her use of a private email server that Lynch’s Justice Department is overseeing.
Still, Perez insisted Lynch accidentally ran into Clinton.
“I think it’s really important for your listeners to appreciate that this was not something that was planned in advance. It happened, and she has spoken, I think, very clearly about what she intends to do,” Perez said.
The full interview between Todd and Perez will air Sunday morning on NBC.
