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Former President Donald Trump tried to distance himself from his previous calls to lock up Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential election. During a Mar-a-Lago news conference on Thursday, he said that while his supporters “used to say, ‘lock her up, lock her up,’” he wouldn’t echo those calls and instead “would say just, ‘relax, please.’”  

“I was very protective of (Clinton). Nobody would understand that, but I was. I think my people understand it. They used to say, ‘lock her up, lock her up,’ but I would say just, ‘relax, please,’” Trump said.  

Facts First: Trump’s suggestion that while his supporters chanted “lock her up,” he merely told them to “relax” is misleading at best. Trump sometimes went silent and paused his remarks as his supporters engaged in the chants, giving them time to continue, but he has used those exact words and similar language on other occasions.

Historically, Trump used such rhetoric while criticizing Clinton’s email practices as secretary of state during the Obama administration, which prompted a federal investigation. She was never charged with a crime.

“For what she’s done, they should lock her up,” Trump said after the crowd chanted “lock her up” at an October 2016 rally in North Carolina.  

“‘Lock her up’ is right,” he said at an October 2016 rally in Pennsylvania. 

Trump has also explicitly called for Clinton’s imprisonment using different phrasing.  

“Hillary Clinton has to go to jail, OK? She has to go to jail,” he said in a June 2016 speech in California. “She has to go to jail,” he repeated in an October 2016 speech in Florida. At a presidential debate in October 2016, after Clinton said, “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” Trump responded, “Because you’d be in jail.”   

Trump softened his rhetoric shortly after he defeated Clinton in the election, saying he didn’t want to hurt her and didn’t feel strongly about prosecuting her. In his 2020 campaign for reelection, though, he again made calls to “lock her up.”  

“You should lock her up, I’ll tell you,” he said at a January 2020 rally in Ohio. At an October 2020 rally in Georgia, after the crowd chanted “lock them up” in relation to the Biden family, Trump said, “You should lock them up. Lock up the Bidens. Lock up Hillary.”