Letter: ‘Lock her up’ rhetoric was simply a dirty trick

A major theme of the Donald Trump campaign was the prosecution of Hillary Clinton for using a private email server. Trump’s rally crowds were encouraged to chant “lock her up.”

Clearly, Hillary Clinton will not be prosecuted, and this threat was simply intended to roil Trump’s crowds and, its perpetrators hoped, disconcert Clinton during the debates.

Trump supporters Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, discussing “locking her up” pre-election, could barely contain their glee. Giuliani literally laughed out loud. What so delighted these two former prosecutors? They knew they were perpetrating a dirty trick, likely assisted by Trump confidant Roger Stone, a renowned political trickster going back to Richard Nixon.

Giuliani began walking back the threat in a Nov. 10 post-election interview with CNN. He said, “If it isn’t as bad as ... the exaggerators think it is, then maybe the best thing to do is forget about it.” Who are these “exaggerators” Giuliani refers to? Giuliani himself is one, Christie another.

Finally, Trump, feigning magnanimity, has said there will be no prosecution of Hillary Clinton. He’s tacitly acknowledging the dirty trick, and avoiding the certainty that participants such as Giuliani would be subpoenaed at a trial, if not “locked up” himself for his participation in the email leaks from the FBI.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 4:31 AM with the headline "Letter: ‘Lock her up’ rhetoric was simply a dirty trick."