US Attorney general says will not interfere in Clinton email probe

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Friday she will abide by decisions of the FBI and prosecutors on whether to bring charges over presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email while at the State Department.

“The recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors and by the FBI director, and they will present it to me and I fully expect to accept the recommendations,” Lynch said at a conference in Aspen, Colorado.

The announcement by Lynch was pushed to the fore after her impromptu meeting with former president Bill Clinton at the Phoenix, Arizona airport this week touched off a political firestorm, with Republicans arguing that the encounter compromised the integrity of the investigation.

Lynch said it was “important to make it clear that that meeting with president Clinton does not have a bearing on how this matter will be reviewed, resolved, and accepted by me.”

But she swiftly acknowledged the poor optics of the meeting, which presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has blasted as evidence of a “totally rigged” system in Washington.

“I understand how people view it,” Lynch said.

“I certainly wouldn’t do it again, because I think it has cast a shadow” over the investigation, she added.

Lynch appeared eager to make clear that she, as a political appointee, will not interfere in the legal process regarding the Clinton investigation, and the integrity of the Justice Department will be upheld.

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee who is aiming to become the nation’s first female commander-in-chief, has acknowledged and apologized for exclusively using a private email account and homebrew server during her time as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

But the scandal has dogged her campaign for more than a year and has contributed to voter concerns that she is not trustworthy.