Trump backs away from campaign vow to prosecute Clintons

After months of campaign rallies where he vowed to press for a new investigation of Hillary Clinton, President-Elect Donald Trump backed away from that promise during a Tuesday interview with the New York Times, as Mr. Trump indicated that he would rather not have his administration pursue a further probe of the Clinton Foundation as well as questions about Mrs. Clinton's emails from her time as Secretary of State.

"I don't want to hurt the Clintons," Mr. Trump said in a meeting with New York Times reporters and editors.

The idea that Trump would back away from his vow to go after Hillary Clinton - which often drew the chant, "Lock her up!" on the campaign trail - disappointed some of Clinton's critics.

"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 group Judicial Watch said in a written statement.

Judicial Watch said such a move "would be a betrayal of his promise to the American people to “drain the swamp” of out-of-control corruption in Washington."

Others vented their frustration on social media as well.

The President-Elect went to the New York Times just hours after he went on Twitter and said he had canceled his visit; he did use part of his visit to blast the newspaper.

Here is a fuller report from the New York Times.

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