Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s truce and efforts to “come together” after their bitter White House race appeared to fray this weekend when Clinton joined in a vote-recount effort, then a top Trump adviser hedged about a criminal probe into Clinton’s emails.
In the weeks since Trump’s win, the Republican president-elect has said that he’s not focused on pursing another criminal probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, despite suggesting on the campaign trail Clinton “has to go to jail” over the issue, amid crowd cheers of “lock her up.”
In his victory speech, Trump said: “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely. Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. . . I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
However, such sentiment appeared in question after a Hillary for America lawyer said Saturday that Clinton would join in a vote-recall effort by Green Party Candidate Jill Stein.
The attorney said Clinton was taking the step “to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.”
Stein has already raised at least $5.4 million in her effort to recount votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states Trump won in his upset victory.
She began the process Friday by officially requesting a recall in Wisconsin.
“I would say (Trump) has been incredibly gracious and magnanimous to Secretary Clinton at a time when for whatever reason her folks are saying they will join in a recount,” senior Trump transition team adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“She congratulated him and conceded to him on election night. … The idea that we are going to drag this out now where the president-elect has been incredibly magnanimous to the Clintons and to the Obamas is incredible.”
Conway also made clear that Trump said only that he wouldn’t rule out another possible email probe because new evidence could emerge and he wouldn’t want to undercut the authority of federal and congressional investigators.
Stein has argued the recount is intended to test the integrity of the U.S. voting system, amid so-far unfounded speculation that Russia tampered with the process.
However, the effort also could undo the 70-plus electoral votes by which Trump beat Clinton.
Trump won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and, as of Wednesday, held a lead of almost 11,000 votes in Michigan, with the results awaiting state certification Monday.
Stein received only about 1 percent of the national vote, which has prompted Trump to call her effort a fundraising “scam.”
The FBI this summer concluded its one-year investigation into Clinton using the private server by saying she was “extremely careless” and that some of the emails included classified information.
However, the investigation was effectively closed without criminal charges being recommended to the Justice Department.
Trump, in his presidential debates with Clinton, also suggested that if elected he would appoint a special prosecutor for the matter.
Also on Sunday, Trump resumed his social media attack on the recount effort, firing off several tweets on the issue, including one that said Clinton’s participation is “sad.”
He also tweeted a part of Clinton’s concession speech in which she told supporters that they must accept that “Donald Trump is going to be our president.”
In addition, Trump tweeted snippets from her debate remarks when she assailed Trump for refusing to say in advance that he would accept the Election Day verdict.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
