Trump Backpedals on Hillary After Conviction, Comes to Her Defense

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Former president Donald Trump has appeared to have adapted a softer stance regarding his 2016 presidential rival, former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, saying that he had never called on her to be thrown in prison for the email server scandal that plagued and eventually tanked the former first lady’s presidential run.

In an interview on Fox News, the former commander-in-chief clarified that it was his supporters who made the call to “lock her up, lock her up,” not him. He said that he was more preoccupied with his victory over her and “making our country great.”

On the whole, Trump has been wishy-washy on the issue of whether or not Clinton should be jailed for her email server fracas – he has occasionally called on supporters to “relax” and tell them, “We don’t say that [lock Clinton up],” when it came to the issue, but he has also repeatedly claimed that Clinton’s email scandal warranted imprisonment.

Clinton, who also served as a Democratic New York senator, was investigated by the FBI in 2016 for having used a personal email server for official communications. Then-FBI director James Comey eventually deemed that Clinton had been “extremely careless,” but said that he would not recommend that she face any charges for the mistake.

Trump’s comments come on the heels of his being found guilty of all 34 felony charges related to his “hush money” case, which he said has made him more sympathetic to Clinton.

“I felt it would have been a terrible thing,” Trump said of the prospect of having his former presidential rival imprisoned during his administration. “And then this [current conviction] happened to me.”

The former chief executive is set to be sentenced by Judge Juan Merchan – whom Trump has repeatedly criticized for allegedly being anti-Trump and biased in favor of the Democrats and the Biden administration – on July 11. The former commander-in-chief is facing the prospect of forking out a $5,000 fine to serving a maximum of four years in prison per felony charge. It is unlikely he will face any jail time, however, given that he has no criminal record.

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