President Barack Obama has not ruled out pardoning Hillary Clinton before he leaves office in early January despite her not being charged with a crime.
"The president has offered clemency to a substantial number of Americans who were previously serving time in federal prisons," White House press secretary Josh Earnest responded Wednesday when asked by reporters.
"And we didn’t talk in advance about the president's plans to offer clemency to any of those individuals — and that’s because we don't talk about the president's thinking, particularly with respect to any specific cases that may apply to pardons or commutations," Earnest said.
"We've got a long tradition in this country of people in power not using the criminal justice system to exact political revenge," Earnest explained. "We go to great lengths to insulate our criminal justice system from partisan politics."
Clinton, who lost Tuesday's election to Donald Trump, has come under attack for using a private email account when she was secretary of state.
In addition, the Clinton Foundation is reportedly under investigation.
Clinton has not been charged with any crimes.
Trump said during his second debate with Clinton last month that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the 33,000 emails she deleted from her private server.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, suggested Wednesday that the issue had not been abandoned, the Post reports.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, for any crimes he might have committed while serving in the Oval Office as a result of the Watergate scandal.
Ford said he took the action to avoid polarizing the nation further by putting Nixon on trial.
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