The Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton Tarmac moment vs. Comey and Trump's private meeting.

[Baitball Blogger]

Is there a huge double-standard here?

Was it just one contact between Lynch and Clinton on an open tarmac that set off alarms of impropriety and we're still having a debate about Trump's intent when he emptied the room to ask Comey to go easy on Flynn on the Russian investigation?

Why is this even a question?

[luvMIdog]

1. am I wrong or did Comey say Bill Clinton spoke to her privately in the plane in his testimony?

I thought he said he discovered Bill Clinton had spoken to her privately in the plane she was in. Am I wrong?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I read it was a meeting ON the tarmac.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/comey-admits-bill-clinton-loretta-lynch-meeting-prompted-hillary-clinton-reveal_us_59396301e4b0b13f2c67ea98

[luvMIdog]

3. Ok I was going on what I thought I heard Comey say in his testimony. I'll have to rewatch that later

I could very well be mistaken, but I thought I heard him say that. Thank you for the link

[Baitball Blogger]

4. The link includes a video of his testimony.

[MichMary]

7. It was aboard her plane

Clinton delayed his plane's departure in order to meet with her on her plane.

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/30/484110476/attorney-general-loretta-lynch-bill-clinton-met-amid-email-investigation

[Demit]

12. Both their planes were on the tarmac. Clinton walked over the tarmac to get to her plane.

[Voltaire2]

5. What political office did Clinton hold at the time?

Oh that's right: no political office. What power did Clinton have to obstruct the investigation? For example could he fire Lynch? Could he order Lynch's superiors in the Justice Department to force her to lay off the investigation?

Obviously none of these things are true about Clinton, and all of them are true about Trump. There is no equivalency.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. They would have viewed Bill Clinton as a conduit.

With all the benefit of the doubt that they're giving Trump on intent, why aren't we allowed to counter argue that there is no evidence that Hillary even knew about that tarmac meeting until she read it on the news?

[Voltaire2]

8. Again, the Clintons were both private citizens at the time.

You want to go talk to the DA about a pending investigation? Go right ahead and make an appointment, that is not obstruction of justice.

Trump had the authority to fire Comey, which he subsequently did. Comey reports to Sessions who reports to Trump. This is an entirely different situation.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Trump created his own perception problem with that firing.

You put all the factors together and this creates a perception of a "Saturday Night Massacre."

What do detractors to your argument see?

(1) Trump wanted Comey to press the Clinton email investigation further and file charges. Comey didn't.

(2) Trump does have a pattern of surrounding himself by loyal individuals, so Comey's testimony that Trump requested loyalty pledge is credible. Hard to shake this one.

(3) Trump first tried to dilute his decision of the firing by pretending it was a committee decision, but in the end, Trump had personal reason to do it. And those reasons are relevant to determining if he was trying to obstruct an investigation.

Thus, the timing of the firing is relevant evidence and it's not something we should just ignore.

[B2G]

16. Except one of those private citizens

Was running for President of the US and the firm assumption was that she was going to win.

It was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

[Voltaire2]

17. Running for president does not grant the authority

to fire the attorney general. Conflating these two events as equivalent is nonsense. And again of course Clinton should have kept a ten light year pole between himself and Lynch, but not because his meeting her constituted obstruction.

[Jane Austin]

20. Sometimes I think that Bill Clinton

is a deeply stupid man.

[Awsi Dooger]

24. He was certainly good for a stupid move or two both times Hillary ran

They say it's more difficult to root for a family member than to compete yourself. Maybe that was part of it. Political instincts ajar. It's hard to believe he would have made a dunce unnecessary move like this, or called the Affordable Care Act the craziest thing in the world, if he had been atop the ticket.

[mucifer]

9. It's still intimidating as a former President.

It was wrong for him to do that.

[StevieM]

11. She is the attorney general. It is not intimidating.

It would have been unheard of for a former president to run into a sitting AG and not say hello.

Indictment was never a real possibility. There was nothing to indict her over.

[MichMary]

19. He didn't "run into" her

He delayed his flight by a half hour, got off his plane and onto hers, and had a private little conversation with the Attorney General who was investigating his wife,who happened to be running for President.

Let's put it this way: If Jeb! had won the R nomination, and was under investigation for something, and GWB or GHWB had a little heart to heart with the AG, would you think everything was on the up and up?

[StevieM]

21. He is a former president who met with the AG when they were both in Arizona, just like any other

former president would have.

And the investigation was absurd. There was nothing to indict her for.

I would have been just fine with one of the Bushes meeting with the AG under the circumstances you described.

[Voltaire2]

13. I agree he should not have done it, but not because it was anything remotely approaching obstruction

of justice, but because it looked wrong and was another piece of shit to throw at Hillary.

But there simply is no equivalency other than: "bad optics" between Trump-Comey and Clinton-Lynch.

[world wide wally]

10. Why would Clinton even need to meet with Lynch face to face to discuss something nefarious?

I am sure they both have telephones.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. I think it goes back to Comey. Comey has been after the Clintons for so long,

that he over-reacted over that Tarmac meeting. I think he thought that Hilary Clinton would win the election, so he went balls to the wall, forgetting that as a public servant, his actions would definitely influence voters. Just think of the gift he gave Republicans with that commercial, "Would you vote for a candidate who was under a federal investigation?"

It was a case of being played by his own prejudices.

At least, he was consistent with Trump. He had to recognize that he was having his own Tarmac meeting with Trump, so he took notes to protect himself.

[Wellstone ruled]

18. We are talking about how Optics can

come back to haunt. Remember Fake News ran this story 24/7 for days. And every Cable News outlet went nuts. It sure sold a ton of Crap.

Once Drudge and Breitbart as well as Infowars picked up on this,you knew it would not end well for Billy.

[kentuck]

22. I heard some RW'er on C-SPAN call-in say....

that Loretta Lynch plane flew 1000 miles out of way to meet with Clinton. I had never heard that theory before? I highly doubt that it is true?

[Baitball Blogger]

23. So, this was less obvious than a phone call?

Loretta Lynch's flight plans would have been public record.