Former President Donald Trump seems to be seeing things differently after his felony conviction last week, claiming over the weekend with Fox News that he never said “lock her up” during his 2016 campaign.
The comment from Trump came during an interview with “Fox & Friends.” The former president touched on his trial, wife, and several other topics during the interview but was questioned about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump was asked during the interview about the “lock her up” rhetoric and how he never prosecuted her as president -- because she was never charged with a crime -- to which the former president offered a different version of events.
“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.”
He went on to say that he never even uttered the phrase that was often chanted at his rallies during the 2016 election.
“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.”
During the 2016 election, Trump often discussed prosecuting Clinton, even demanding she be sent to prison at one point. A quick fact check pulls up numerous videos of him saying 'lock her up.' The source of Trump's ire were Clinton's email practices as secretary of state during the Obama administration, which prompted a federal investigation. She was never charged with a crime for using private email servers.
At one point before ballots were cast, Trump committed to investigate Clinton with a special counsel, but his promise was never kept.
Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents. The charges stem from payments made weeks before the 2016 election to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair between the two. The alleged relationship occurred in 2006, a year after Trump and Melania were married.
Sentencing for the former president was set for July 11. He could face a maximum of four years behind bars, though most experts are not expecting his punishment to be so harsh.
Still, during the same interview, Trump noted that he would be “okay” with going to prison.