Loretta Lynch, former US attorney general. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Thursday publicly welcomed what she termed the "rising tide of impeachment," saying the House's investigation of President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine was "brought about, as all good reckonings are, by the actions of the president himself."

Speaking at a conference in Washington, Lynch said the House's impeachment inquiry carried echoes of the process involving President Richard Nixon more than four decades ago. Her remarks came as Trump's ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, appeared on Capitol Hill and testified that he objected to the president's request to run Ukraine policy through his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

"We'd been subjected to a president who had thought himself above the law. That sound familiar? We saw that president run to the courts and try and uphold that delusion. Sound familiar?" Lynch said.

Lynch, now a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, also invoked one of her personal heroes, the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, who as a member of the House Judiciary Committee played a key role in the impeachment process against Nixon. Forty-five years later, Lynch said, the impeachment process against Trump is being led by another "strong woman" in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg

"Now, separate and apart from political affiliation, one must recognize that Nancy Pelosi—the woman who stands third-in-line to the presidency yet head and shoulders ahead those who precede her—is one of the strongest and most effective politicians of our time. Yet Nancy Pelosi does not and cannot stand alone," said Lynch, the keynote speaker at the Women, Influence & Power in Law conference, which is hosted by ALM Media.

In wide-ranging remarks Thursday, Lynch raised alarm over what she described as the country's "headlong dash back to the 1950s" and leaders who are "focused not on public service but on self-service."

"Norms of conduct and decency are exploded every day," she said. "Institutions that we most cherish—that embody justice, equal opportunity and the law—are under assault."

Her remarks came just hours after news of the death of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a top Democrat who as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee led investigations into Trump and his administration. Lynch described Cummings as a friend, fighter and mentor, saying his death was a "shock to many of us" and a "loss to all of us."

In her half-hour speech, Lynch spoke at length on the themes of race and gender, recalling her mother's refusal to use segregated bathrooms in the South during the Jim Crow era. And she said she was troubled by how the law was being used in the "fight over who controls our bodies," with states passing "law after law" to curtail abortion access.

Reflecting on her career, in which she rose to become the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn and later the first black woman to serve as attorney general, Lynch spoke of the importance of mentoring and using positions of power to remove barriers that prevent women from advancing their careers.

"What is the point of having power and influence if the places you inhabit are unchanged by your presence?" she asked.

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