Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says President-elect Trump should allow federal officials to investigate Hillary Clinton after Trump said he’s leaning against prosecuting his old opponent.
Gingrich said on Fox News Wednesday that Trump’s statements could be as damaging to the rule of law as his earlier promises to lock Clinton up for her use of a private email server while in office. He said Trump should not tell the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Internal Revenue Service what to do.
“It would be as wrong for the president of the United States to say we’re not going to enforce the law against somebody as it would be for the president of the United States to say I’m going to direct the Department of Justice or the IRS to go after somebody,” Gingrich said.
After promising in a presidential debate to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton, Trump backed off that declaration in a meeting with reporters Tuesday. He said he wanted to move on from the election and that he didn’t want to hurt the Clinton family.
Gingrich, though, said that kind of statement was a mistake.
“I’m hoping what President-elect Trump was saying is he is not going to personally interfere with or in any way suggest to the FBI or the IRS what they should be doing,” Gingrich said. “[I’m hoping he was saying] he is not going to pursue a political vendetta, but I also hope he is not going to … [send] signals to the FBI or IRS that they should not be looking at law breaking.”
Gingrich also continued his attacks on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney amid rumors the former GOP presidential nominee could be in line to become secretary of state.
Gingrich said too many questions surround Romney’s loyalty to Trump to make him the country’s top diplomat.
“Is this guy really going to be loyal?” Gingrich asked. “Gov. Romney wanted to be president, not secretary of state. You have to ask the question: When he goes overseas, is he going to be secretary of state for President Trump or is he going to be Mitt Romney’s secretary of state?”
