Conway Says Trump’s Cooled On His Campaign Promise To Investigate Clinton

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Donald Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Tuesday that the President-elect currently does not plan to pursue investigations against Hillary Clinton, a promise he made often on the campaign trail that, if carried out, would violate the Justice Department’s independence.

Conway confirmed that Trump “doesn’t wish to pursue these charges,” and said that his decision “sends a very strong message, tone and content,” to Republican lawmakers who might otherwise continue to pursue investigations into Clinton.

“I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don’t find her to be honest or trustworthy,” she said. “But if Donald Trump can help her heal then perhaps that’s a good thing.”

Conway said that Trump is “thinking of many different things” during the transition process, but “things that sound like the campaign aren’t among them.”

Chants of “lock her up!” became a mainstay at rallies Trump held during his presidential campaign, from the Republican National Convention in July to the President-elect’s election night event in New York. During the second presidential debate in October, Trump said that he would “get a special prosecutor” to investigate Clinton if he won the election, and that she would ultimately end up “in jail.”

The president of the United States does not have the jurisdiction to appoint a special prosecutor; that’s the purview of the U.S. attorney general. Any investigation undertaken as a result of such an appointment would be independent and free from the president’s influence and agenda.

Republican officials were quick to jump on Trump’s invective anyway. Following the second debate, House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) promised “years” of investigations into Clinton’s record if she was elected. Even after Trump’s upset victory in the election, Chaffetz did not back down, saying it would be “totally remiss” to dismiss investigations as a result of Clinton’s loss.

Watch below:

Latest Livewire
96
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Conway said on Tuesday that the President-elect currently does not plan to pursue investigations against Hillary Clinton, …besides that the Lawyers will be too busy defending Donald in the hundreds of lawsuits and preparing for all the legal challenges when he violates the Constitution

  2. Avatar for cmj cmj says:

    I mean…it’s not like the President actually has the authority to do this but why let pesky laws get in the way of your spin, KellyAnne.

  3. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    The frothy Red Hats are going to love that.

  4. “I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don’t find her to be honest or trustworthy,” she said.

    —How strange that she won the popular vote.

    “But if Donald Trump can help her heal then perhaps that’s a good thing.”

    —Yup, the #1 item on Hillary’s wish list - “I hope Donald can help me heal.”

  5. Donald Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Tuesday that the President-elect currently does not plan to pursue investigations against Hillary Clinton

    Height of absurdity and real danger there. Not only that there is nothing to investigate, but look how Trump is acting as if he were now the DOJ/FBI as well. TPM does mention that in the article, but I bet that won’t make headlines in the MSM.

    Welcome to dictatorship.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

90 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for doremus_jessup Avatar for sysprog Avatar for asanders91360 Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for mantan Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for cmj Avatar for maxaroo Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for nemo Avatar for dnl Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for clauscph Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for rtalmage Avatar for j_from_texas Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for delmar Avatar for kumquat16 Avatar for coprophagoussmile Avatar for everett_brunson

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: