Donald Trump said Monday night that he believes Hillary Clinton will likely get away with her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, but said that as president, it’s only fair that he’d look to prosecute Clinton. Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Trump in front of a live Nevada audience if his attorney general would go after Clinton should an investigation find she broke the law while serving in the Obama administration. “You have no choice,” Trump replied. “In fairness, you have to look into that.” “She seems to be guilty,” he said. “But you know what, I wouldn’t even say that.” [1]
Hannity: We were talking during the break about Hillary Clinton. If you win you’ll have an Attorney General. The statute of limitations will not have passed.
Trump: Six years, actually. Well, look, you have no choice. We have to solve all sorts of problems. In fairness, you have to look into [Hillary]. Maybe she can prove her innocence, but it just seems to me that, I think the public knows everything that they are going to know. The emails have come out. She seems to be guilty, but you know what, I wouldn’t even say that. But certainly it has to be looked at. … If I win, certainly I will look at that as being fair to everyone else. [This is] so unfair to the people that have been prosecuted over the years for doing much less than she did. So she’s being protected but if I win, it is certainly something I will look into. [2]
The Washington Examiner adds:
Hannity asked if Clinton might be running to help ensure that a Republican doesn’t prosecute her for how she allowed classified information to be routinely sent around on her non-secure server, and Trump agreed that Clinton is running the race of her life for that very reason.
“So she’s being protected, but if I win, certainly it’s something we’re going to look at,” he said.
The self-funded candidate criticized how the government has gone after other leaders like former CIA Director David Petraeus for lesser crimes, but has not followed suit against Clinton. [1]
The politics here are genius. By making this very careful statement, Trump keeps the looming possibility of Hillary Clinton being indicted alive. Even if the Obama administration gives her a pass, as we all expect, Trump can drive the DC Media insane by keeping the indictment threat alive through the end of the general election. Hillary’s media will be desperate to put this entire issue to bed after the Obama administration grants her absolution. Trump is not going to allow that to happen The idea of the Clintons finally facing justice for their sins will also keep the base excited. Once again, Trump is violating all of the DC Media’s rules that are set up to elect Democrats. Like Bill and Hillary’s sordid past with all of these women, Trump goes there and goes there and goes there. [2]
This is just the sort of thing that so many Republicans want to hear. Even Rush Limbaugh noted on his Tuesday show that things like this are likely to cause many conservatives to vote Trump despite their many well founded reservations about his long, long past as a common, run-of-the-mill New York liberal. As Rush said, this frustration with the Clintons breaking laws with impunity is so great for many center right voters that a Trump promise to indict Hillary may be enough to send them stampeding to pull the lever for Trump. “Do you know what a big deal that is to people? I think this is another one of these classics,” Rush said early in his Tuesday morning show. “The truth of the matter is,” the radio talker added, “there are people out there who have wanted Hillary Clinton prosecuted since the nineties. There are people out there who have wanted Bill and Hillary Clinton seriously intersecting with the law since the 1990s.” [12] [13]
