New York Times emailed Obama White House about Lynch, Clinton tarmac meeting: Jordan Sekulow
Jordan Sekulow, executive director for the American Center for Law and Justice, on Wednesday explained how the watchdog group uncovered the email alias of former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“We figured out exactly what the alias email account was for Loretta Lynch. She had it acknowledged through an attorney previously that she had the alias email account but no one knew what it was. I say that because if you go back now through past FOIAs [Freedom of Information Act] even, you may be able to find instances where now you know that AG was on emails. That you would not have known before. We found this out because she actually replied,” he told the FOX Business Network's David Asman on "After the Bell."
The former attorney general used the alias “Elizabeth Carlisle” to conduct government business at the Justice Department, which included emails related to a meeting with former President Bill Clinton on the tarmac of a Phoenix airport in June 2016 during the presidential campaign.
President Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to slam the press for not wanting to cover the private meeting, saying: “E-mails show that the AmazonWashingtonPost and the FailingNewYorkTimes were reluctant to cover the Clinton/Lynch secret meeting in plane.”
E-mails show that the AmazonWashingtonPost and the FailingNewYorkTimes were reluctant to cover the Clinton/Lynch secret meeting in plane.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2017
The emails Trump was apparently referring to were published by the ACLJ on Friday and showed reporters requesting comment from DOJ officials regarding the meeting.
New York Times reporter Mark Landler sent an email to then-director of the Justice Department Public Affairs Office Melanie Newman reading: “I’ve been pressed into service to write about the questions being raised by the Attorney General’s meeting with Bill Clinton.”
Washington Post reporter Matt Zapotosky also emailed Newman writing: “My editors are still pretty interested in it, and I’m hoping I can put it to rest by answering just a few more questions about how the meeting came about –who approached who, and how did they realize they were in the same place?”
Additionally, Sekulow discussed the legality of Lynch’s use of an alias.
“I don’t know that it’s illegal for the alias to exist. I don’t think that there is a problem there. As long as you are actually on the server, so long as you are not hiding information that should be available to the public with that alias and we know that it’s part of it,” he said.