Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is fundraising off of Donald Trump’s threat to prosecute and possibly "jail" the Democratic nominee for her personal email use at the State Department.
The campaign sent a fundraising email Monday asking supporters to donate to Clinton’s campaign, citing Trump’s "words of totalitarianism" at the second presidential debate the prior night.
"Last night, Donald Trump said that if he were elected president, he’d target Hillary and said she would be in jail if he were in charge," the fundraising email states. "Threatening to jail political opponents isn’t what we do in America."
"Those are the words of totalitarianism. We’re a democracy. And we can’t afford to let this man anywhere near the White House. So chip in now to support the work it’s going to take to beat him," the fundraising message continues.
During the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday night, Trump said that he would seek to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s private email server use if he were elected president.
"If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your [email] situation," Trump said, "because there has never been so many lies, so much deception."
Clinton claimed that his statements about her emails were untrue. "It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," she added.
"Because you’d be in jail," Trump then said, completing her sentence.
Clinton’s use of a private email server has been a flashpoint in the presidential election and a considerable drag on her campaign. The FBI faulted Clinton and her State Department staffers for being "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information but did not recommend charges be pursued in the case.
While Clinton repeatedly said that she never sent nor received information marked classified on her personal email, the FBI found roughly 100 messages on Clinton’s system that were classified at the time they were sent or received. Other statements made by Clinton have also been out of step with the FBI’s conclusions.
The Clinton campaign’s fundraising email, which is titled "how Trump threatened Hillary," asks supporters to contribute between $1 and $50 to the campaign. The email was sent by Christina Reynolds, the deputy communications director for Hillary for America.