At a Houston rally in support of Texas Senator Ted Cruz on October 22, US President Donald Trump once again went on the offensive against his bitter rival Hillary Clinton, jokingly mulling the idea to nominate her to the Supreme Court.
"If you want the fake news media to finally investigate Hillary Clinton," Trump said, pausing to flirt with the crowd chanting, "Lock her up!" "So, if you want them to investigate, we'll just have to nominate Hillary Clinton to the United States Supreme Court. How do you like that idea?"" he followed up in a playful fashion, with the crowd breaking into murmur and laughter.
"Let's see how she does. If judge [Brett] Kavanaugh had to go through what he went through — and he's a fine man — can you imagine Hillary [Clinton] up there? That would take three to four years of questions."
Trump supporters on social media have appreciated the joke, with some accusing US media of double standards over their coverage of the two 2016 presidential candidates.
His comments came in an apparent nod to the controversial battle over Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was sworn in as Supreme Court Justice on October 6, putting an end to weeks of bitter debates after three women came forward to accuse the judge of sexually assaulting them in the past.
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Kavanaugh denied the allegations, calling them part of a politically motivated smear campaign. Some Republicans, including Donald Trump, have also claimed that Democrats orchestrated the push against the president's nominee in a bid to stall his confirmation until after the pivotal November mid-terms, when they could gain control of the Senate and derail Trump's attempts to cement a conservative majority on the nation's highest court.
Donald Trump was also referring to the Clinton email scandal. In August, The Daily Caller reported that a Chinese-owned company in the Washington, DC area was able to obtain nearly all of Hillary Clinton's emails by using software embedded in her private server, drawing the ire of the POTUS.
In 2015, New York Times reports broke that she used her personal account for official business during her time as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
The FBI launched an inquiry into the potential mishandling of sensitive information on Clinton's personal email server. The agency found that over a hundred emails without classification markings should have been marked "Classified," but then-FBI chief Comey ended up recommending no charges against her. However, the FBI acknowledged that the former official was "extremely careless" in handling her email communications and that she passed secret and confidential emails on numerous occasions.
The bureau briefly reopened the investigation prior to the 2016 US presidential election due to newly discovered emails that may had been be pertinent to the case, but then closed the second probe, saying it stood by its earlier conclusion not to criminally prosecute Clinton.