COMEY TIES ex-AG, Clinton disclosure.

WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey said he decided to speak publicly about the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email after concluding that then-Attorney General Loretta

Lynch had the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Comey, speaking at a Senate hearing on Thursday, said Lynch lost credibility to discuss closing the email investigation because Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton on a plane on the tarmac in Phoenix in June 2016. Lynch had said they didn’t discuss the email probe.

“I didn’t believe she could credibly decline that investigation — at least not without grievous damage to the Department of Justice and to the FBI,” Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his first public comments after President Donald Trump dismissed him.

Comey’s comments on Lynch regarding the Clinton email probe were overshadowed by his descriptions of meetings with Trump over the FBI’s probe of Russia’s meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

Comey’s comments on the Clinton email investigation in July 2016, as the presidential election campaign was well underway, drew criticism from Republicans at the time. Comey told reporters he recommended no criminal charges be brought against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information in emails when she was secretary of state. At the same time, he faulted Clinton for being “extremely careless” in the use of her private email and server.

Comey told lawmakers on Thursday that he considered whether to call for the appointment of a special counsel because of Lynch’s meeting with Bill Clinton. He said he concluded that wouldn’t be fair because there wasn’t enough evidence to make a case.

“We investigated very thoroughly,” Comey said. “Calling for the appointment of a special counsel would be brutally unfair because it would send the message, ‘Aha there’s something here.”’

Comey said there were other reasons he decided to speak publicly as well.

He told lawmakers that Lynch had directed him to refer to the Clinton email probe as a “matter,” which tracked the language used by her campaign, instead of an investigation. Comey said the attorney general’s directive to use that language “concerned me.”

A person familiar with the discussion between Lynch and Comey, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lynch told the FBI director she used the word “matter” in responding to media questions as a way of not confirming or denying the existence of an investigation, in keeping with Justice Department policy. Lynch suggested that she and Comey should use consistent language, and he didn’t disagree, the person said.

Lynch