Photo: Alamy
In the days following his conviction by a New York jury, President Trump participated in various media interviews where he was asked whether he would seek revenge against his foes during his second term.
During a phone interview with Newsmax host Greg Kelly, President Trump referred to his comments about failed 2016 Democrat presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during another recent media interview.
The 45th president recalled the chants during nearly every campaign rally to “Lock her up, lock her up,” but told Kelly that he would ask, “Wouldn’t it be really bad?”
He listed the accusations against Clinton, including the “hammering of her cell phones,” but asked Kelly, “Wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and former secretary of state – think of it, the former secretary of state – but the president’s wife in jail? Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing?”
However, President Trump pointed out that his prosecution set the precedent he was trying to avoid, stating, “So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible, path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them.”
Trump recounted his decision not to appoint a special counsel to dive deeper into the investigation of Clinton for retaining a private email server and deleting over 33,000 emails, telling Newsmax host Greg Kelly, “I thought it would have been a terrible precedent for our country.”
Trump emphasized the potential necessity of targeting individuals who pursued political prosecutions now that the precedent has been set.
He told Kelly, “And now, whoever it may be, you’re going to have to view it very much differently. This is a bad, bad road that they’re leading us down to as a country.”