Trump falsely claims he never called for Hillary Clinton to be locked up
“Lock her up” is perhaps one of the most popular chants among Trump supporters, and he agreed with it or explicitly called for her jailing on several occasions.
Former president Donald Trump, who now awaits sentencing after being convicted on Thursday on 34 charges in his hush money trial, told Fox News that he never called for his 2016 presidential campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, to be sent to jail.
During an interview, portions of which aired Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Trump was asked about a call often heard at his campaign rallies: “Lock her up.”
The chant is perhaps one of the most popular among Trump supporters, and it refers to demands by his voters to imprison Clinton over her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
“You famously said, regarding Hillary Clinton, ‘Lock her up.’ You declined to do that as president,” Fox co-host Will Cain told Trump.
“I beat her,” Trump replied. “It’s easier when you win. And they always said lock her up, and I felt — and I could have done it, but I felt it would have been a terrible thing. And then this happened to me.”
Trump then asserted that he never called for Clinton’s jailing
“I didn’t say ‘lock her up,’ but the people said lock her up, lock her up,” Trump said. “Then, we won. And I say — and I said pretty openly, I said, all right, come on, just relax, let’s go, we’ve got to make our country great.”
However, there are several instances in which Trump called explicitly for Clinton’s jailing and others in which he agreed with his supporters’ chants.
In July 2016, for example, Trump said he would not be “Mr. Nice Guy” when it came to Clinton, during a Colorado rally where the crowd was calling for Clinton to be locked up.
“Every time I mention her, everyone screams, ‘Lock her up, lock her up,’” Trump told the crowd. “You know what, I’m starting to agree with you.”
On Twitter, now known as X, Trump posted that October: “Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.”
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