Donald Trump spoke to Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" by phone Sunday morning, and in a long and rambling conversation, explained that whatever it was Hillary Clinton "did," it was criminal.
Trump began by speaking vaguely about what he said were his first "very strong statements" about Hillary Clinton. Presumably referring to the New York Times article whose credibility rapidly eroded revision-by-revision on Friday, Trump said that "what she has done is criminal. I meant, what she has done is criminal. I don't see how she can run."
"If the prosecutors -- who are all Democrats, by the way -- that's the part of the problem with fairness here, they're all Democrats, so they're protecting her," he said, still not having specified what actions she deserves to be prosecuted for. "If you had an impartial prosecutor and they were honorable -- and maybe they are -- we're going to find out, but what she's done is criminal."
"But Mr. Trump," Tapper asked. "What are you saying that she did is criminal?"
"What she did is criminal," he replied, yet again refusing identify the nature of her allegedly criminal activities. "We will see what happens. But I think Hillary's got a lot of problems."
Trump boasted of his early successes in the race, but Tapper wanted to know exactly what "criminal" behavior Trump believes should disqualify her from the race. "I'm talking about the whole email scandal," he finally admitted.
"It's been amazing to me how she's been protected. Even the fact that the Times changed their story, I respect the times for going after her like that. But even the fact that they changed the story upon their request, I think they were more right the first time. Whether it was the first time or the second time -- what Hillary did is criminal."
Watch the entire exchange via CNN below.
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