During an event in Florida on Friday, President Donald Trump took aim at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , The Hill reported.
The affair was meant to be centered on senior citizens and the administration’s policies, but Trump mostly stuck to his usual talking points, effectively turning the event into a campaign rally.
At one point, he mentioned his 2016 opponent, which prompted the crowd to chant “lock her up!”
Trump immediately embraced the chants, saying he will no longer stay silent on the issue.
“Yeah. I agree with you. I used to just be quiet on that. I agree with you 100 percent.”
As The Hill noted, even though similar chants have long been a staple of Trump’s rallies, he has been reluctant to outright embrace the calls to jail his political opponents, often resuming his speech and ignoring the crowd.
This time, however, the commander-in-chief apparently embraced and endorsed the chant.
He then went on to describe former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference as “the greatest hoax and the greatest political crime in the history of our country,” seemingly implying that Clinton and other Democrats need to be indicted for allegedly launching the investigation.
Trump has previously made similar claims, suggesting that former President Barack Obama and officials in his administration are guilty of treason — a crime punishable by death.
In recent weeks, Trump has seemingly grown more frustrated with the Justice Department, publicly criticizing officials for not doing more to investigate the origins of Mueller’s probe and prosecute his perceived political opponents.
In a recent interview, he took aim at Attorney General William Barr, urging him to wrap up the investigations as soon as possible.
“To be honest, Bill Barr is going to go down as either the greatest attorney general in the history of the country or he’s going to go down as, you know, a very sad situation. I’ll be honest with you. He’s got all the information he needs,” he said.
With Election Day only weeks away, Trump has intensified his attacks on Clinton, seemingly hoping to revive his successful 2016 campaign strategy.
He recently vowed to release “breathtaking” documents about Clinton, pivoting back to the email scandal that contributed to the Democrat’s loss four years ago.
“We have found things nobody can believe,” he told Fox News.
Some believe these attacks are futile and that the commander-in-chief would benefit more from focusing on Joe Biden , who is the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
Notably, longtime GOP strategists Dan Judy and Brad Blakeman recently urged Trump to campaign on saving the economy and solving the COVID-19 pandemic instead of relying on old themes.