There are many things about 2016 that lots of people have likely buried in the deepest recesses of their brains, making them nearly impossible to recall. One thing we’re guessing virtually no one has forgotten? Donald Trump’s relentless calls to imprison Hillary Clinton, which were repeated so frequently then (and for years to come!) that they had their own campaign chant: “Lock her up.” Which is why it’s extra absurd that over the weekend, the ex-president claimed he never advocated for putting his then opponent behind bars.
Speaking to Fox & Friends Weekend, Trump falsely declared, “I didn’t say ‘lock her up,’ but the people said, ‘lock her up, lock her up.’ 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.’”
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In fact, Trump called for Clinton to be imprisoned numerous times on the 2016 campaign trail, a small sampling of which include:
- Saying during a July 2016 rally, “Every time I mention her, everyone screams, ‘Lock her up, lock her up.’ You know what? I’m starting to agree with you.”
- Writing on X, then Twitter, “Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.”
- Declaring during a June 2016 rally that Clinton “has to go to jail.”
- Telling Clinton during an October 2016 presidential debate: “If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation,” and saying if he were in charge of the law she’d “be in jail.”
Incidentally, the calls for imprisoning Clinton didn’t stop when she was no longer Trump’s opponent. In September 2020, when he was running against Joe Biden, he responded “I agree” to chants calling for locking up the former Democratic nominee.
Meanwhile, he also claimed in 2016 that Clinton should not be allowed to run for president because she might be indicted.
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Why is Trump trying to rewrite history here? For one thing, he’s a pathological liar, and lying is his thing. But it also seems more than a little likely that he’s worried his many demands for Clinton—who was never even charged with a crime—to be sent to prison are going to come back to haunt him when he’s sentenced on July 11. While it’s possible the ex-president will get no time behind bars, four years in lockup are also on the table.
