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Trump Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway delivered a threat to prosecute Hillary Clinton if she pursues the recount during an interview on CNN’s State Of The Union.

Video:

On #CNNSOTU Kellyanne Conway says Trump has been "gracious" by not prosecuting Clinton while recount underway https://t.co/HqwIHYGUis — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 27, 2016

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Full transcript via CNN’s State Of The Union:

And so he said he wouldn’t rule it out. He said it’s just not his focus right now. I think he’s being quite magnanimous and at the same time he’s not undercutting at all the authority and the autonomy of the Department of Justice, of the FBI, of the House Committees, who knows where the evidence may lead if, in fact, it were — if the investigation were re-opened somewhere.

But this is the president-elect’s position right now and I would say he has been incredibly gracious and magnanimous to Secretary Clinton at a time when for whatever reason her folks are saying they will join in a recount to try to somehow undo the 70 plus electoral votes that he beat her by. I mean this — you know, I was asked on CNN and elsewhere, goodness a thousand times, will Donald Trump accept the election results? And now you’ve got the Democrats and Jill Stein saying they do not accept the election results. She congratulated him and conceded to him on election night. I was right there. And the idea that we are going to drag this out now where the president-elect has been incredible y magnanimous to the Clintons and to the Obamas is incredible.

The president doesn’t make decisions on who gets prosecuted and who doesn’t. That is not how our system works. Secondly, Donald Trump isn’t the president yet, so he has no say on what happens. What comes out of Kellyanne Conway’s mouth is usually a direct message from Trump Tower.

Conway was issuing a not so thinly veiled threat to Hillary Clinton. If Clinton’s team continues to assist with the recount, the former Secretary of State may face prosecution. The incoming administration is expressing their willingness to punish anyone who questions or expresses dissent.

If Trump is so confident in the election results, why is he so rattled by this recount?

The overblown reaction coming from Trump and his staff towards the recount might lead one to suspect that they are not as confident in the election results as is being projected publicly. Incoming presidents do not use their staff to issue veiled threats against their political opponents on national television.

Trump’s reaction to the recount and threat to prosecute Hillary Clinton is not normal, and a sign that the incoming administration has an expansive and authoritarian view of executive powers that could represent a grave danger to the civil liberties and freedoms of the American people.