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GOP Lawmaker Offers Most Ridiculous Take Yet On Not Prosecuting Trump

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) brazenly rewrote history to argue against prosecuting former President Donald Trump for possibly taking classified documents from the White House.

“President Trump took that approach. He said, ’You know what, we’re not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton,’” Waltz said Sunday on Fox News of the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate that Trump routinely said should be sent to jail.

“Despite the blatant, blatant destruction of thousands and thousands of documents with BleachBit that she got to decide what would get presented to the archives,” Waltz added. “And [Trump] said, ’You know what, let’s move on. Let’s move forward.′ But they are just incapable of doing it when it comes to him.”

Clinton was investigated by the FBI for using a private email server for official government communications while she was secretary of state. The FBI found she handled classified information carelessly, but determined there were no criminal violations.

Trump hardly came across as keen to “move forward.”

Even now, the infamous “lock her up” chants about Clinton feature at Trump’s rallies. He suggested in 2016 that Clinton would “be in jail” during his administration. He pledged to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her if he won, though never followed through.

Now, as the Justice Department investigates whether Trump intentionally took classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump’s allies have charged that prosecuting him would be too divisive for the country. They’ve also attacked the credibility of the Justice Department and spread unfounded and self-serving conspiracy theories that any damaging materials found in the FBI’s search of his Florida home were planted there.

Trump is under investigation for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and removing and destroying official documents, according to the FBI’s search warrant.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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