Presumptive Republican presidential nomineeDonald Trump accused Democratic rivalHillary Clinton Friday of being behind a controversial meeting between her husband and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
The billionaire businessman questioned reports that former President Bill Clinton held an impromptu and largely social meeting with Lynch on a private plane in Phoenix amidst a federal investigation into his wife’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.
“The system is totally rigged,” he tweeted early Friday. “Does anybody really believe that meeting was just a coincidence?”
Trump further contended that the meeting was a secret that no one was to know about, “but he was caught by a local reporter.”
The expected GOP presidential nominee, noting Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ previous criticism of Hillary Clinton, argued that the former first lady “has bad judgment” and was likely behind the meeting.
“Bill’s meeting was probably initiated and demanded by Hillary!” he tweeted.
Trump’s Twitter accusations and criticism came following reports that Lynch plans to announce she will accept whatever recommendation prosecutors and the FBI director make regarding bringing charges related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server use.
Such a move would eliminate the possibility that a political appointee could overrule investigators in the case, according to the New York Times.
Although the Justice Department had been working on such an arrangement for months, the newspaper reported, the meeting between Lynch and the former president largely jumpstarted the decision.
Lynch is expected to discuss the decision during a Friday conference in Aspen, Colorado, according to the Times.
The AG and former president reportedly met on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Monday after Bill Clinton, who was on his way out of the airport, discovered Lynch had just arrived for a community policing event and asked to visit with her.
Lynch told reporters that she and Clinton did not discuss the ongoing email server investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Our conversation was a great deal about his grandchildren. It was primarily social and about our travels,” she said. “We talked about former Attorney General Janet Reno, for example, whom we both know, but there was no discussion of any matter pending for the department or any matter pending for any other body. There was no discussion of Benghazi, no discussion of the State Department emails, by way of example.”
The FBI is investigating whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information through a private email server as secretary of state.
The U.S. State Department’s inspector general issued a critical review of her use of the server in late-May, finding, among many things, that use of private email for public work was an inappropriate method of preserving documents and her practices did not comply with department policies regarding federal record laws.