Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh admitted Tuesday he never thought Donald Trump would seek to prosecute Hillary Clinton if he won the presidency.
"I never expected Trump to actually prosecute her," Limbaugh said on his show, shortly after Trump told The New York Times he would not try to prosecute Clinton over her email scandal or the reports about her family's foundation conducting a pay-to-play scheme.
Mediaite posted audio of Limbaugh's comments.
"I'm falling back on what some of the standard protocols for politics are after victory," Limbaugh added. "We in America do not prosecute defeated political enemies. Hillary's more than that, she could be a crime boss. I understand that. But I never expected it to happen, and it had nothing to do with why I supported Trump. If he did it, it was going to be icing on the cake for me."
Limbaugh said if Trump's administration were to prosecute Clinton, Democrats would seize on the opportunity to criticize Republicans.
"If she were prosecuted, there is not a Republican safe from liberal Democrat harassment and prosecution thereon after," he said. "If she were prosecuted and convicted . . . you can imagine the Democrat reciprocity on this."
Trump vowed countless times on the campaign trail and during debates with Clinton he would reopen the investigations into her alleged misdoings and see if there was a criminal case there. He appears to have changed his mind since winning the Nov. 8 election.
"I think it would be very very divisive for the country," Trump told the Times.