President-elect Trump’s announcement that he is likely to ditch a campaign pledge to investigate Hillary Clinton was met with a sign of relief from the national press Tuesday.
During a meeting Tuesday with reporters and executives at the New York Times, Trump responded to a question about his previous pledge — “lock her up” was a rallying cry among his supporters — and he said it would likely be too “divisive” for the country if he pursued his former rival now that he’s in office.
“Yeah, look, you know we’ll have people that do things but my inclination would be, for whatever power I have on the matter, is to say let’s go forward,” he said. “This has been looked at for so long. Ad nauseum. Let’s go forward.”
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the Times, quick agreed.
“I agree, I think speaking not as a journalist now, it’s very healthy,” he replied to Trump, according to a transcript of the meeting.
The Washington Post editorial board also praised Trump for the decision.
“The nation ought to be relieved that President-elect Donald Trump has decided not to press his campaign pledge to criminally investigate rival Hillary Clinton for her handling of email while secretary of state and for the activities of the Clinton Foundation,” the paper said. “A drawn-out probe, fueled by Mr. Trump from the White House, would invariably become a political circus, take on the overtones of vendetta and deepen the wounds of the election. It would represent a continuation of the reckless ‘lock her up’ chants by Mr. Trump’s campaign crowds, a mantra that suggested a Trump administration would run roughshod over the rule of law.”
During the final weeks of the campaign, Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric that Clinton was guilty of criminal conduct. At the second presidential debate in October, Clinton said it’s “awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law of our country.”
Trump quipped, “Because you’d be in jail,” a line that drew cheers from his supporters in the audience. Though FBI Director James Comey said over the summer that Clinton had acted “extremely careless” with government information, he said there was no criminal case against her.
The right-leaning Wall Street Journal also said Trump made the right move in backing off.
“That’s the right move—for the country and his Presidency. … The voters ultimately rendered that verdict on Nov. 8, and being denied the Presidency is a far more painful punishment than a misdemeanor or minor felony conviction,” the paper said in an editorial. “Prosecuting vanquished political opponents is the habit in Third World nations. Healthy democracies prefer their verdicts at the ballot box. Prosecution would also stir needless controversy that would waste Mr. Trump’s political capital.”
Charles Krauthammer, a Republican and conservative columnist, said Trump’s words effectively amounted to a pardon for Clinton.
“I think it’s the right thing,” he said on Fox News. “Procedurally, not quite, but this the equivalent of him saying, issuing, a pardon.”
