Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin

US News

Loretta Lynch falls under the Clintons’ corrupting influence

She can’t help herself. Even yesterday, with the political world fixated on her meeting with FBI agents, Hillary Clinton had her flack mislead the public.

A spokesman said she gave a “voluntary” interview, which is true only because she agreed to talk instead of waiting to be subpoenaed. The flack also said she was “pleased” to assist the gumshoes.

Who believes she was “pleased” to be interviewed by the FBI in a criminal investigation that could upend her life?

But that’s the way the Clintons roll.

Wherever they go, whatever they do, ethics are trashed and suspicions of criminal conduct follow them like night follows day.

It’s who they are and it’s self-delusional to believe another stint in the White House would make the Clintons better people. Power exacerbates rather than cures an absence of integrity.

Yet there’s another dimension to their chronic crookedness, and it gets insufficient attention even though it might be more important to the nation’s well-being.

It is that, in addition to being personally corrupt, the Clintons are corrupters. They are piggish users, with the people and institutions around them inevitably tarnished and sometimes destroyed even as the Clintons escape to their next scam.

Monica Lewinsky is a prime example, and Loretta Lynch is the latest. The attorney general’s dumbfounding decision to meet privately with Bill Clinton while the FBI investigates Hillary’s handling of national secrets stained Lynch’s reputation and added to public mistrust of the Justice Department.

“Wherever they go, whatever they do, ethics are trashed and suspicions of criminal conduct follow them like night follows day.”

Lynch didn’t create that mistrust — she was supposed to be the antidote. Her predecessor, Eric Holder, was a left-wing activist who used his role as the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer to further his and Obama’s political agenda.

That role earned Holder an undesired distinction. His refusal to cooperate with Congress on the disastrous Fast and Furious gun sting led to a bipartisan vote in the House holding him in criminal contempt, the first time in history a sitting Cabinet member ever faced such a censure.

Lynch, as his successor, was handily confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, with her steady, firm demeanor and solid record as a prosecutor carrying the day.

Yet her lifetime of good work and the hope for a fresh start at Justice are now overshadowed. She acknowledges the meeting with Bill Clinton was a mistake, and pledged to accept the recommendation of FBI agents and career prosecutors on whether Hillary should face charges.

That’s not enough, not nearly enough, given the circumstances and stakes.

While Lynch offers no explanation as to why in the world she agreed to the 30-minute meeting on a plane in Phoenix, perhaps she felt she owed the former president something. Remember, he first nominated her to be the US attorney in Brooklyn in 1999, a promotion that changed her life.

After his presidency, she went to a top private law firm, and became a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Bill Clinton had been very, very good to her, and without his boost, she probably wouldn’t even have been a candidate to replace Holder.

And now her patron wanted a private meeting. Both had to know it was wrong, but he had nothing to lose and didn’t care about her reputation or the Justice Department’s.

That was her responsibility. And it doesn’t really matter if they didn’t discuss the case. Just his being there was reminder enough that she owes him.

Lynch also had to know that an FBI agent who socialized with the spouse of a suspect in a criminal case probably would be investigated and fired. Yet she agreed to the meeting anyway.

Despite Lynch’s vow to let others make the call, her refusal to recuse herself means she will remain in charge. That was never ideal because Obama endorsed Hillary and all but exonerated her, but there seemed no way to argue for a special prosecutor without more evidence that the outcome was rigged. There was also FBI Director James Comey’s reputation as an independent straight shooter to provide some reassurance that the case would be handled on the merits.

Now Lynch has broken that fragile confidence, and the need for a special prosecutor is obvious.

The explosive result shows the Clintons haven’t lost their touch for leaving destruction and chaos in their wake. The remarkable events also serve as a clear reminder that while the Clintons enriched themselves over the years, they were helping to bankrupt the public trust in its government and institutions. And they won’t stop until they’re stopped.

Stringer’s nanny-state sunscreen proposal would burn taxpayers

City Comptroller Scott Stringer has found a new way to infantilize New Yorkers. He wants taxpayers to fund free sunscreen at parks, beaches, pools and playgrounds.

“Skin cancer is a serious public-health concern, and it demands government attention,” he declared.

Actually, skin cancer doesn’t “demand” anything. That’s the role of politicians trying to turn voters into helpless, entitled babies.

Times of Israel’ s State Department source has gotta be Kerry

The Times of Israel reports that a top State Department official it won’t name warns that Israeli and Palestinian leaders will share the blame if they fail to seize peace.

It’s gotta be John Kerry. Only the secretary of state would be vapid enough to shovel moral equivalency crap as Israel buries more victims of Arab terror, including a 13-year-old American citizen slaughtered while she slept.

Dopey Kerry likes to see silver linings in dark clouds, and there is one for the rest of us. In six months, he’ll be out of a job.

Check it out: The FDR library

Anyone wanting a lesson on why we celebrate Independence Day can get it with a visit to FDR’s presidential library in Hyde Park, NY.

The facility, both grand and intimate, is marking its 75th anniversary, with events, lectures and recollections of FDR along with bipartisan praise for his wise decision to create the first presidential library.

None existed in 1941 when he launched the concept as a way to preserve history, and teach it. Built with public donations, it was the first of the 13 now run by the National Archives.

Thursday’s ceremony was enlivened when Bill vanden Heuvel, former UN ambassador and prime mover in many Roosevelt institutions, including the Four Freedoms Park, led a sing-along of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” the virtual soundtrack of FDR’s 1932 campaign.

Yet a powerful exhibit in the museum recalls anything but happy days. The “Day of Infamy” chronicles FDR’s anguish and action in the first 24 hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which also took place 75 years ago, on Dec. 7, 1941.

Cables, memos and photos document the shock and confusion among generals and the White House amid mounting casualties. There are records of the president’s private comments, including his fear that he would be blamed.

There is a video of his historic “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress the next day, and an original copy of his remarks that includes his handwritten edits. The speech led to a declaration of war against Japan, and when Germany declared war on America days later, World War II was fully engaged.

In addition to the museum and library, FDR’s family home is nearby. Go. You won’t be sorry.