Falsely claiming to have spoken against Hillary Clinton’s imprisonment during the last election, Donald Trump said on Fox News on Sunday, “I didn’t say ‘lock her up.'”
Throughout their 2016 campaign, Trump, who is now the first US president to be found guilty of a felony, demanded repeatedly that Clinton be imprisoned. Trump is now facing sentencing, which may include prison time.
He often declared that he agreed with the “lock her up” shout and urged for her imprisonment. The slogan became well-known during and after his campaign rallies.
The 77-year-old was questioned by Fox anchor Will Cain over the call during the interview that aired on Sunday. The question was related to Clinton’s use of a personal email server while serving as secretary of state.
“You famously said, regarding Hillary Clinton, ‘Lock her up.’ You declined to do that as president,” added Cain.
With a “I beat her,” Trump answered. “Winning makes things easier. And people would always say, “Lock her up,” and I felt that would have been a horrible thing, even though I could have done it. And then I experienced this. I might thus feel otherwise about it.”
Afterwards, he denied participating in the chant.
“I didn’t say ‘lock her up,’ but the people said lock her up, lock her up,” Trump remarked.
“We prevailed then. And I say — and I said very frankly — okay, come on, just unwind, let’s go, we have to build this country into something magnificent.”
The allegation was quickly debunked by US media, and some social media users shared supercuts of the Republican endorsing the cry or openly advocating for Clinton’s imprisonment.
The use of a private email server by Clinton, the former president Bill Clinton’s wife, was looked at, but no charges were brought.
Last week, Trump was found guilty on 34 charges of fabricating financial documents to conceal payments of hush money to an adult film star prior to the 2016 presidential election.
July 11 is the date of his sentencing. He also mentioned the potential of receiving a jail sentence or jail time in the Fox News interview on Sunday. He cautioned that although he was “ok with it,” such a move might prove to be a “breaking point” for his fans.
In a nation already wary of the possibility of political unrest in the tense days leading up to the November 5 presidential election, the warning has struck a chord.
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