http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-clinton-jail-ex-prosecutors-slam-229547
Donald Trump’s debate-night vow to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton’s email setup and put her “in jail” provoked a sharp blowback from former U.S. prosecutors, who said Trump’s view of the Justice Department serving the whims of the president is antithetical to the American system.
While presidents appoint the attorney general, they do not make decisions on whom to prosecute for crimes — and were Trump to do so, prosecutors warned, he would spark a constitutional crisis similar to that of the “Saturday Night Massacre” in the Nixon administration. In that case, Nixon attempted to fire the prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, and the top two Justice Department officials resigned on the spot.
At a Trump rally outside Pittsburgh Monday afternoon, the crowd erupted in chants of "Lock her up! Lock her up!" That prompted the the GOP nominee to repeat his pledge to name a special investigator to probe Clinton. "Special prosecutor, here we come, right? If I win, we're going to appoint a special prosecutor," Trump declared.
However, former Republican appointees to senior Justice Department posts used words like “abhorrent,” “absurd” and “terrifying” to describe Trump’s threat to use the legal system to imprison Clinton.
Donald Trump’s debate-night vow to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton’s email setup and put her “in jail” provoked a sharp blowback from former U.S. prosecutors, who said Trump’s view of the Justice Department serving the whims of the president is antithetical to the American system.
While presidents appoint the attorney general, they do not make decisions on whom to prosecute for crimes — and were Trump to do so, prosecutors warned, he would spark a constitutional crisis similar to that of the “Saturday Night Massacre” in the Nixon administration. In that case, Nixon attempted to fire the prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, and the top two Justice Department officials resigned on the spot.
At a Trump rally outside Pittsburgh Monday afternoon, the crowd erupted in chants of "Lock her up! Lock her up!" That prompted the the GOP nominee to repeat his pledge to name a special investigator to probe Clinton. "Special prosecutor, here we come, right? If I win, we're going to appoint a special prosecutor," Trump declared.
However, former Republican appointees to senior Justice Department posts used words like “abhorrent,” “absurd” and “terrifying” to describe Trump’s threat to use the legal system to imprison Clinton.
