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Top aide: Trump won’t pursue Clinton investigation

by Harper Neidig - 11/22/16 8:41 AM ET

President-elect Donald Trump will not follow through on his campaign pledge to pursue an investigation into Hillary Clinton, one of his top aides told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

{mosads}”I think when the President-elect, who’s also the head of your party, tells you before he’s even inaugurated that he doesn’t wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone, and content” to other Republicans, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday.

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

In a meeting with the New York Times Tuesday, Trump said he doesn’t feel strongly about going after Clinton.

“It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about,” he said, according to a reporter in the meeting. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”

Trump also said that he didn’t think his supporters would be disappointed that he is backing away from his talk of prosecuting his former rival.

“I don’t think they will be disappointed,” he said. “I think I will explain it that we in many ways will save our country.”

Conway said that “things that sound like the campaign” are not among Trump’s priorities as he prepares his incoming administration.

Trump routinely attacked Clinton on the campaign trail over her use of a private server as secretary of State and for foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation while she was in the Obama administration.

He promised to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue the investigations, arguing that President Obama and the Clintons had used their influence to shape the Justice Department’s investigation.

Supporters would often chant “lock her up” at Trump rallies when Clinton was referenced.

During one of the presidential debates, Trump quipped that Clinton would be in jail if he was elected.

Trump said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” after the election, however, that prosecuting Clinton would not be a priority.

“I don’t want to hurt them,” he said of the Clinton family. “They’re good people.”

– Updated at 1:26 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton