Supporters of President Trump chanted “lock her up” in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the first time the slogan has been weaponized against someone besides Hillary Clinton.
The angry Iowa crowd of about 7,500 took aim at Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who two weeks ago facilitated the public hearing testimony of Christine Blasey Ford against then-future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump rhetorically elbowed Feinstein at the tail end of a litany of anti-Democrat complaints, mocking her denial that her staff leaked a confidential letter in which Ford first accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were teens.
Mispronouncing her name ‘Fein-steen’ as he often does, the president pantomimed a moment during the September 27 hearing in which the senator asked staff director Jennifer Duck for reassurance that her own aides had honored Ford’s request for privacy.
‘Did you leak the documents?’ Trump asked, playing both sides of a Q-and-A with the ranking Demorcat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
‘Wha, wha, what? No, I didn’t!’ he replied, playing the role of Feinstein as she suddenly threw a glance over one shoulder to grill her underlings: ‘Did we leak? Did we leak?’
‘No! No! No we didn’t!’ Trump’s fictional Feinstein said at last.
The ‘Lock her up!’ chant grew from thready to full-throated Clintonian proportions in five seconds flat.
‘I think they’re talking about Feinstein! Can you believe that?’ Trump laughed.
‘Was that the worst body language? Honestly!’ Trump said.
‘In other words, did she leak it? 100 percent!
As cheers rocked the rafters, he stopped himself: ‘No, I don’t want to get sued. 99 percent. See? Now I can’t get sued.’
The president did mention Clinton later during his free-wheeling rendering of political oral history, and the crowd was ready with a ‘Lock her up!’ reprise.
The staccato slogan first hit America’s national consciousness during the 2016 Republican National Convention as Trump’s fans obsessed over Clinton’s use of an unsecured private email server that hosted some classified material while she was secretary of state.
The Justice Department has ended its investigation of Clinton, no charges were filed, and she was never locked up.