Donald Trump appears to have angered some right-wingers with the announcement that he will not seek to prosecute Hillary Clinton over the email investigation that dogged her campaign.

The president-elect had suggested during his campaign that he would employ a prosecutor to look into the situation – at one point telling Clinton during a debate she would be in jail if he was president.

More from IBTimes UK

But almost as soon as Trump was announced the winner of the 8 November presidential election, he appeared to step away from his pledge to jail the Democrat

Trump initially responded to questions about jailing Clinton by telling the Wall Street Journal that pursuing a prosecution of his former rival is low down on his list of priorities, stating: "It's not something I've given a lot of thought, because I want to solve health care, jobs, border control, tax reform."

But the Republican has now entirely backtracked on the idea, with his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, telling MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday (22 November):

"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."

But his new position on Clinton appears to have angered some right-wingers, who believed Trump would purse charges against the Democrat if he won.

"Donald Trump must commit his administration to a serious, independent investigation of the very serious Clinton national security, email, and pay-to-play scandals," the president of right wing watchdog Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, said in a statement seen by The Hill.

"If Mr. Trump's appointees continue the Obama administration's politicised spiking of a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, it would be a betrayal of his promise to the American people to 'drain the swamp' of out-of-control corruption in Washington, DC.

"President-elect Trump should focus on healing the broken justice system, affirm the rule of law and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton scandals."

The organisation's sentiments were shared by right-wing commentator Ann Coulter, who tweeted: "As happy as I am that our long national nightmare's over, NO president shld be blocking investigators from doing their jobs. (sic)"

The matter is not closed completely, however, as Trump is yet to comment on whether or not FBI director James Comey will retain his role, something Trump said would be uncertain if he was elected.

Donald Trump Hillary Clinton