GOP senator to Lynch: Would you investigate Hillary Clinton?
By Tim Devaney - 04/02/15 06:09 PM EDT
Sen. David Vitter is asking attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch to weigh in on Hillary Clinton's email scandal.
The Louisiana Republican wants to know whether Lynch would investigate the former secretary of State following reports that Clinton conducted government business from her personal email account and then deleted many of the messages on the server.
He wrote a letter to Lynch Thursday asking her to clarify.
"Clinton's actions certainly warrant such an investigation," Vitter wrote. "If you are confirmed as Attorney General Eric Holder's replacement, will you commit to a vigorous and transparent investigation of the allegations that Clinton used her personal email account and server to shield politically-sensitive material?"
Vitter voted against Lynch in committee and said he will do so again on the floor.
Lynch is likely to eventually be confirmed by the Senate, but she has been waiting 145 days for that to happen. Her nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 26, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has delayed a floor vote on her nomination.
One of the concerns for many Republicans has been Lynch's endorsement of President Obama's controversial immigration policies.
But Vitter is now raising the issue of Clinton's email scandal, which he called a "shocking violation of federal law" that "substantially undermines the American public's faith in the integrity of the federal government."
"If we let Hillary Clinton get away with deleting all of her emails as Secretary of State, we'll set a dangerous precedent for the administration moving forward," Vitter said. "This should never happen again, and we need to know that our next attorney general will hold the administration accountable."
Meanwhile, five other Senate Republicans — Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mark Kirk (Ill.) — have voiced support for Lynch and say they will vote along with Democrats to confirm her.
This should give Lynch enough support to become the next attorney general.
http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/237794-gop-senator-to-lynch-would-you-investigate-hillary-clinton
