Includes links to letters sent to:
In April, The New York Times reported that the FBI came into possession of a batch of hacked documents, one of which was said to be authored by a "Democratic operative who expressed confidence that Ms. Lynch would keep the Clinton investigation from going too far." Chairman Grassley then requested a copy of the document from the Justice Department, which has failed to respond. A month later, The Washington Post reported similar facts and provided further details about individuals involved in these communications. The Post reported that the email in question, sent by then-chair of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Leonard Benardo of the Open Society Foundations, indicated that Lynch had privately assured Clinton campaign staffer Amanda Renteria that the FBI's investigation wouldn't "go too far."Comey was reportedly concerned that the communication would raise doubts about the investigation's independence and began discussing plans to announce the end of the Clinton email investigation rather than simply referring it to the Department for a prosecutorial decision. Comey's extraordinary action to announce the end of the investigation was a break from Justice Department protocol, and was later cited as justification for his removal from the FBI.
In their letters to Benardo, Open Society Foundations' General Counsel Gail Scovell, Renteria and former Attorney General Lynch, the Senators seek details about the reported communication, copies of any related documents and whether the FBI contacted them to investigate the alleged communication.
That last point, "whether the FBI contacted them to investigate the alleged communication," is important.
One bottom line to this is to disgrace Comey as a political hack. Lynch is a political hack too, but she has immunity, because she, like Trump, can decline to prosecute anything she wants to. If she does, she risks that action taking on a political dimension, but she has no legal jeopardy.
Thanks for your post!
Lynch has no immunity from an obstruction charge.