US President-elect Donald Trump says he no longer feels strongly about pursuing further investigations into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's email practices and has also softened his stance on climate change in an interview with The New York Times.

Key points: Trump now believes Clinton "has been through enough", local media reports

Trump now believes Clinton "has been through enough", local media reports Senior advisor says Trump is now focused on becoming president, not campaign issues

Senior advisor says Trump is now focused on becoming president, not campaign issues Trump said in a recent interview the Clinton's were "good people"

Mr Trump showed little appetite for pressing investigations of Mrs Clinton, although he did not take the option off the table, according to Times reporters who attended an interview with the Republican.

Mr Trump said "no" when asked if he would rule out investigating Mrs Clinton over her family's charitable foundation or her use of a private email server while she was US secretary of state, according to Twitter posts from reporters at the interview.

But he said he wanted to move on and was "not looking to go back and go through this", according to a Times reporter.

"I think it would be very very divisive for the country," he was quoted as saying, referring to prosecuting Mrs Clinton or her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

"I don't want to hurt the Clintons, I really don't.

"She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways."

Mr Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway also said he would not pursue the case, adding he was focused on becoming president.

"I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don't find her to be honest or trustworthy, but if Donald Trump can help her heal then perhaps that's a good thing," Ms Conway said.

If Mr Trump does abandon his campaign vow to appoint a special prosecutor for Mrs Clinton, it will be a dramatic reversal of a position he mentioned almost daily on the campaign trail.

Mr Trump dubbed his rival "Crooked Hillary" and crowds at his rallies often chanted: "Lock her up."

During one presidential debate, Mr Trump told Mrs Clinton that if he won the presidency, she would "be in jail".

The FBI investigated Mrs Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state during President Barack Obama's first term, concluding in July that her actions were careless but that there were no grounds for bringing charges.

The Clinton Foundation charity has also been scrutinised for donations it received, but there has been no evidence that foreign donors obtained favours from the State Department while Mrs Clinton headed it.

Mrs Clinton has said her use of a private email server was a mistake.

Sorry, this video has expired Trump won't pursue Clinton over emails

The ABC's North America correspondent Michael Vincent said Mr Trump had also told the reporters he was happy to hear from Times reporters.

"If you see something or you get something where you feel that I'm wrong, I'd love to hear it — you can call me," Mr Trump said, according to a reporter's tweet.

Mr Trump also told Times reporters and editors in the meeting his son-in-law could perhaps bring about peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, Vincent said.

The meeting between Mr Trump and Times staff followed two tweets from the President-elect — in the first he said he had cancelled the meeting after the news organisation changed the "terms and conditions".

Several hours later Mr Trump tweeted that he would meet with the Times and was "looking forward to it".

'Open mind' on climate change

In the same interview with reporters, editors and other newspaper officials at the Times headquarters in Manhattan, Mr Trump also softened his stance on whether humans have played a role in causing climate change.

In the lead-up to the US election, he repeatedly called climate change a hoax and suggested the global phenomenon was created by the Chinese to impede American business.

Earlier this month one of his aides told Reuters the New York businessman was seeking quick ways to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris accord to combat climate change.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump told the Times he thinks there is "some connectivity" between human activity and climate change, reporter Mike Grynbaum tweeted.

"It depends on how much," the reporter quoted Mr Trump as saying.

Asked whether the US would withdraw from climate change accords, the reporter tweeted that Mr Trump said: "I'm looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it."

Mr Trump, who takes office on January 20, also said he was thinking about climate change and American competitiveness and "how much it will cost our companies", the reporter said, without elaborating.

Trump condemns alt-right supporters

President-elect Trump also condemned an alt-right conference in Washington after some members performed a Hitler salute and yelled "Heil Trump!" after a speech about white nationalism.

"I condemn them. I disavow, and I condemn," Mr Trump told a Times reporter.

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In a video from the conference, Richard Spencer, a leader of the "alt-right" movement, told the conference that America belongs to white people, who he described as "children of the sun".

Mr Trump also rejected charges by some critics that his chief White House strategist Steve Bannon is a racist, saying: "I've known Steve Bannon a long time — if I thought he was a racist, or alt-right ... I wouldn't even think about hiring him."

Critics say Mr Bannon, a former head of the conservative Breitbart News, had made the website a forum for the alt-right, a loose grouping that rejects mainstream politics and includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Reuters