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Clinton on Impropriety of Lynch Meeting With Bill: 'Hindsight's 20-20'

July 3, 2016

Hillary Clinton wouldn't say Saturday whether the private meeting held between her husband and Attorney General Loretta Lynch was inappropriate, although she did say "hindsight's 20-20" during an interview with MSNBC.

Bill Clinton and Lynch touched off a political firestorm this week when news surfaced that they met privately on her plane in Arizona. Both sides of the aisle decried the discussion as improper, given Hillary Clinton being under federal investigation and Lynch's key role in the probe.

She said she learned about the discussion on the news, and called it a "short, chance meeting." She repeated their claims that their talk centered purely on social matters.

"You didn't view what he did as inappropriate?" host Chuck Todd asked.

"Well, it was a short, chance meeting that occurred, and they did not discuss the Department of Justice's review, and I know that some, nonetheless, have viewed the meeting in a different light," Clinton said. "And both the attorney general and my husband have said they would not do it again, and the bottom line for me is I respect the professionalism and integrity of the officials at the Department of Justice handling this process."

Todd asked her if she understood why both political supporters and opponents thought Bill Clinton had made a mistake.

"Well, I think hindsight's 20-20," Clinton said. "Both the attorney general and my husband have said that they wouldn't do it again, even though it was, from all accounts from that I have heard and seen, an exchange of pleasantries. But obviously, no one wants to see any untoward conclusions drawn, and they've said they would not do it again."

Lynch said Friday she would accept recommendations from the career prosecutors involved in the case over whether to file charges against Clinton.