Donald Trump Denied That He'd Ever Said, "Lock Her Up" — Which Is Obviously A Lie
Convicted felon and former president Donald Trump lied about using the phrase, "Lock her up."
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The chant rattled into the public consciousness in 2016 during the Republican National Convention, where it was largely aimed at then-nominee Hillary Clinton over her private server emails (she has been cleared by the State Department and twice by the FBI).
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Initially, Trump said that he "didn't like the phrase" and tried to distance himself from it. However, on Jul. 29, 2016 (mere days later), he said, “I’ve been saying let’s just beat her on November 8th. But you know what, I’m starting to agree with you."
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Of course, the phrase is coming back into the minds of some after Trump was found guilty last week of 34 felony charges of falsifying business documents. It is possible that Trump will go to prison, though, as the first former president to have a felony conviction, this is an unprecedented moment.
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During a Fox & Friends "interview," Fox News’s Will Cain said to Trump, “You famously said, regarding Hillary Clinton, ‘Lock her up.’ You declined to do that as president." Trump replied, "I beat her. 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."
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“So I may feel differently. I can't tell you. I'm not sure I can answer the question. Hillary Clinton — I didn’t say ‘lock her up,’ but the people said ‘lock her up, lock her up,’” Trump continued. “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.”
Trump also insisted that he had the "country together" and "everybody was doing better" before "the China virus," which is false. Pool / Getty Images
So here are just some moments where Trump did, indeed, want Hillary to be locked up:
1.On Oct. 10, 2016, the crowd in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania started chanting, "Lock her up!" Trump replied, "Lock her up is right."
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2.On Oct. 14, 2016, at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump said of Clinton, "For what she's done, they should lock her up, they should. It's disgraceful."
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3.Four years later, on Jan. 9, 2020, in Toledo, Ohio, Trump said, "Crooked Hilary, you should lock her up."
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4.On Jun. 23, 2020, Trump said in Phoenix, Arizona, "Lock them up. Yeah. Lock them up."
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5.On Oct. 16, 2020, Trump said at a rally in Macon, Georgia, "Lock up the Bidens, lock up Hillary. Lock them up."
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