Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday that the attorney general’s decision not to charge his likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, smacked of “bribery.”
At a rally in the battleground state of Ohio, Mr. Trump said that it looked like bribery when Mrs. Clinton, amid the Justice Department investigation of her secret email setup as secretary of state, leaking a story about keeping Attorney General Loretta Lynch as the nation’s top cop.
“You are waiting for a decision by the attorney general and you are saying that you are going to give her a job. You are not allowed to do that. That’s bribery, folks,” Mr. Trump told the crowd in Cincinnati.
A couple hours earlier, Mrs. Lynch announced that she would not press charges against Mrs. Clinton. The announcement came a day after FBI Director James B. Comey said he would recommend no charges against Mrs. Clinton, although the agency’s investigation found “extreme carelessness” and the dangerous mishandling of classified material.
“She said she is going to reappoint the attorney general and the attorney general is waiting to decide whether or not she’s guilty,” said Mr. Trump. “And boy was that a fast determination. She could have waited at least a little longer.”
The billionaire businessman said the events surrounding the decision, including a clandestine meeting last week between Mrs. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton at an airport, revealed that the justice system was “rigged.”
He said that he couldn’t believe claims by Mrs. Lynch and Mr. Clinton spent 39 minutes talking about his grandchildren and golf.
“There no way you can do that,” said Mr. Trump. “I told you, two minutes for the grandchildren, two minutes for golf, that’s 35 or 36 minutes left. ’Let’s talk about Hillary,’” he said, imitating Mr. Clinton.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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