GOP scolds Lynch for dodging questions: ‘Abdication of your responsibility’

“Your refusal to answer questions … is an abdication of your responsibility,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told the attorney general after she had dodged a series of questions about her role in the conclusion of the Clinton email probe.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, noted Lynch’s answers suggested she had not personally surveyed the evidence compiled by the FBI during its year-long investigation.

“You’ve given no indication whatsoever that you did any independent reading” of the facts of the case, Gohmert told the attorney general.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, slammed Lynch for announcing publicly that she would accept the FBI’s indictment recommendations before she even knew what those would be, essentially shifting responsibility for the probe off of herself.

“You can’t say, ‘I’m the attorney general and I decide,’ and yet, ‘I’m going to take their recommendation even before they make their recommendation,'” Jordan said.

Lynch noted her announcement ahead of the end of the investigation that she would accept the FBI’s recommendations was a first for her.

“I have not had occasion to do that before,” she said, acknowledging she felt compelled to make the announcement because her private meeting with Clinton’s husband was “seen by some as having an influence” on the investigation.

Republicans became increasingly frustrated as the hearing wore on Tuesday afternoon with Lynch’s repeated attempts to avoid providing answers about the Clinton email probe.

“These questions are pretty simple,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, lamented after Lynch refused to say whether it is illegal for an individual with a security clearance to share classified information with an individual without one.

“The lack of clarity is pretty stunning,” Chaffetz added.