Attorney General Loretta Lynch insisted Sunday there was no conflict of interest for her or the Department of Justice in the criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server use, in spite of President Obama's public endorsement.
"You're a political appointee of the president," Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said to Lynch. "Does that create a conflict of interest for you? Does it make it harder for you to handle the criminal investigation into Clinton when your boss is saying he thinks she should be president?"
"Well, I don't get involved in whom the president endorses, and I don't have comments, as I've said before, on any of the candidates," Lynch said. "The investigation into the State Department email matter is going to be handled like any other matter. We've got career agents and lawyers looking at that. They will follow the facts and follow the evidence wherever it leads, and come to a conclusion."
Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination earlier this month and swiftly received Obama's endorsement, although the federal probe into her server and potential mishandling of classified information continues to hang over her campaign.
Also, the Inspector General's report at the State Department slammed her conduct and rebutted her claims that her server was permissible to employ.
Wallace repeated his question as to whether it created a conflict of interest for her.
"No, this is not a conflict for me or for the department or for anyone," she said. "We will continue to do all of our work in the same way in which we always have, with the interest of the American people first and foremost."
Wallace noted that the same day Obama endorsed Clinton, Lynch met with him at the White House.
"Did you in any way, shape or form discuss the Clinton case with the president?" Wallace asked.
"We've never discussed the Clinton case," Lynch said. "I've never spoken about it with the president or really with anyone at the White House. That's not the kind of relationship that I have with people there, and it would be inappropriate to do so."