--- title: Donald Trump Calls for Special Prosecutor on Hillary Clinton description: Donald Trump called for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, saying the FBI and Department of Justice aren't impartial canonical: https://time.com/4462315/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-special-prosecutor/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-22T23:39:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:43:57.628Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Calls for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Hillary Clinton og:description: "Immediately" og:url: https://time.com/4462315/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-special-prosecutor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30bfd464b67c688b/6988a338fb4eac0c4188ed39/donald-trump-staff-social-posts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Calls for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Hillary Clinton twitter:description: "Immediately" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30bfd464b67c688b/6988a338fb4eac0c4188ed39/donald-trump-staff-social-posts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Calls for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e0164152-7ad8-4f2a-a1c5-fdc7ab839701&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Nearly 15,000 New Hillary Clinton Emails Recovered as Part of FBI Probe [Watch (HLS stream): Nearly 15,000 New Hillary Clinton Emails Recovered as Part of FBI Probe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vmWJaLzD.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2016-08-23. The State Department says it is reviewing nearly 15,000 previously undisclosed emails recovered as part of the FBI’s now-closed investigation into the handling of sensitive information that flowed through Hillary Clinton’s private home server._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 22, 2016 11:39 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 22, 2016 11:39 PM UTC Donald Trump called for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, saying the FBI and Department of Justice can’t be trusted to be impartial. “The amounts involved, the favors done and the significant numbers of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor immediately, immediately, immediately,” Trump said in Akron, Ohio, of the State Department under Clinton, adding the “immediately’s” to his prepared remarks. “After the FBI and Department of Justice whitewash of the Clinton email crimes, they certainly cannot be trusted to quickly or impartially investigate Hillary Clinton’s new crimes, which happen all the time.” Under current U.S. law, independent counsel can be appointed when the Attorney General determines that an investigation by the Department of Justice “would present a conflict of interest for the Department or other extraordinary circumstances” and “that under the circumstances, it would be in the public interest to appoint and outside Special Counsel.” Loretta Lynch, the current U.S. Attorney General, [came under fire in June](http://time.com/4389433/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-email-attorney-general-loretta-lynch/?iid=sr-link2) for meeting privately with former President Bill Clinton while the FBI and Justice Department were investigating Hillary Clinton’s private email server. At the time, Lynch said they did not discuss the email issue. Trump referenced this meeting in his speech Monday, citing it as an example of the Department of Justice acting “unethically.” ## Transcript The FBI material that was handed over to us include is approximately 14, 900 documents . >> But I know there have been question about my emails so I want to address that directly, when I got to work as secretary of state I opted for a convenience to use my personal email account [ MUSIC ] Justice Department is required to appoint an independent special prosecutor because it has proven itself to be really, sadly, a political arm of the White House. [ MUSIC ] Nobody has ever seen anything like this before. 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