Orrin Hatch: “I just spent 30 minutes laying out some of the evidence that I think clearly shows the grounds for further…”

“I just spent 30 minutes laying out some of the evidence that I think clearly shows the grounds for further investigation. The question is how can the Attorney General continue this investigation within the Department without a conflict of interest? I do not think she can. Again, I will cite her testimony back in 1993. She had a strong view that even the slightest appearance of a conflict of interests should, at all costs, be avoided by the independent counsel. She said this: . . . there is an inherent conflict of interest whenever senior Executive Branch officials are to be investigated by the Department of Justice and its appointed head, the Attorney General. The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the President. Recognition of this conflict does not belittle or demean the impressive professionalism of the Department's career prosecutors, nor does it question the integrity of the Attorney General and his or her political appointees. Instead, it recognizes the importance of public confidence in our system of justice, and the destructive effect in a free democracy of public cynicism. She further testified that: It is absolutely essential for the public to have confidence in the system and you cannot do that when there is conflict or an appearance of conflict in the person who is, in effect, the chief prosecutor.”