No charges for Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump aide

President-elect Donald Trump doesn't want to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton after he repeatedly called to "lock her up" during the 2016 election says one of his closest aides.

"When the president-elect, who's also the head of your party, tells you before he's even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content," said Kellyanne Conway, Trump's former campaign manager on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday (22 November).

This is a reversal of one of Trump's campaign promises. During the second presidential debate 9 October, Trump told Clinton that "if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation." He frequently lead his campaign rallies in chants of "lock her up!" and it became one of his memorable slogans.

After winning the election, in an interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday, 13 November Trump said he was "going to think about" prosecuting Clinton. "She did some bad things," he said, but added the Clintons are "good people. I don't want to hurt them."

Conway, who is working on Trump's transition team, said that right now Trump is "thinking of many different things as he prepares to become the president of the United States, and things that sound like the campaign are not among them."

She said that Clinton has to wrestle with "the fact that a majority of Americans don't find her to be honest or trustworthy" but that "if Donald Trump can help her heal, then perhaps that's a good thing."

Trump hammered Clinton throughout the campaign on her use of a private email server as Secretary of State. In July FBI Director James Comey closed the investigation into Clinton's email practices without pressing charges or finding any wrongdoing.

In a letter sent to government officials on Friday (28 October), however, Comey raised new questions about Clinton's handling of sensitive information. That too was wrapped up without finding any wrongdoing.

Trump ally, Rudy Giuliani, who is the former mayor of New York City and in the running for secretary of state, said he was "supportive" of the move not to pursue a case against Clinton.

"If that's the decision [Trump] reached, that's perfectly consistent with sort of the historical pattern," Giuliani said, adding he would "also be supportive of continuing the investigation."

During the campaign Giuliani called Clinton a criminal during press conferences and speeches. "There's a tradition in American politics that after you win an election, you sort of put things behind you," Giuliani said. During a campaign "you say a lot of things" he noted, "and then you sort of put them behind you in order to unite the nation."