Sweet: Trump backs off promise of special prosecutor for Clinton

Follow @lynnsweetWASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump spent the weekend in Trump Tower in New York huddling with advisers. In an interview broadcast Sunday CBS “60 Minutes” he retreated from his promise to appoint a special prosector to investigate Hillary Clinton.

CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl, who conducted the interview said, “what we discovered . . . was that some of his signature issues at the heart of his campaign were not meant to be taken literally, but as opening bids for negotiation.”

In the interview, taped Friday at Trump’s penthouse home in Trump Tower, Trump revealed:

• The wall he wants to build on the Mexican border — his signature campaign pledge — now could have “some fencing.”

• On deporting illegal immigrants, Trump said he will first seek to deport 2 to 3 million immigrants who have criminal records, with the fate of the “terrific people” subject to future determination.

Follow @lynnsweet• On abortion, Trump reaffirmed he will appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices, but ignored a direct question on whether he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, the settled law of the land legalizing abortion.

• On gay marriage, Trump said he was not interested in overturning the law. “These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And — I’m — I’m fine with that.”

• Trump back-pedaled on his promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton over her emails. “I’m going to think about it,” Trump said.

“. . . She did some bad things, I mean she did some bad things,” Trump said, prompting Stahl to ask, “I know, but a special prosecutor? You think you might . . .

To which Trump replied, making a reference to Bill and Hillary Clinton, “I don’t want to hurt them, I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them. And I will give you a very, very good and definitive answer the next time we do 60 Minutes together.”

Trump supporters made the chant “Lock her up” a standard at his rallies and at the GOP convention in Cleveland.

• Declined to say whether he would fire FBI Director James Comey. Trump excoriated Comey in July when he cleared Clinton on her use of a private email server. However, Clinton told supporters Comey’s Oct. 28 letter to Congress about reopening the email probe cost her the election.

• Trump will take only a $1-a-year salary, not the $400,000 the job pays.

• On Obamacare, which Trump pledged to repeal and replace — now he is open to keeping two popular elements of Obama’s signature health insurance plan, coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and letting parents keep children up to the age of 26 on their policies.

• After a bitter and divisive campaign attacking Obama — and questioning whether he was born in the U.S. — Trump told “60 Minutes” the president is “terrific.”

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