WILMINGTON, Ohio — GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Friday he will bring real change to Washington if elected president, as he looked to frame the final days of the 2016 race for the White House against Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump said real change begins with scrapping Obamacare — which he described as an “international joke” — and restoring honesty in the federal government.
“So we ought to start by getting rid of Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Trump said.
The New York businessman said Mrs. Clinton is a “candidate of yesterday” and said he friends in government have shielded her from facing criminal charges over her email scandal.
“I think the FBI wanted to do it, and she was protected by her friends at the Department of Justice,” he said, adding that news reports suggest the renewed investigation into her emails is “likely to yield, perhaps, an indictment.”
“She is likely to be under investigation for quite a while and quite likely face a criminal trial,” he said.
The stop here, his last scheduled in Ohio, was sandwiched between an event earlier in the day in New Hampshire and another that was penciled in for Friday night in Pennsylvania.
People in the crowded waved pink “Women for Trump” and “lock her up” signs featuring Mrs. Clinton in a prison jumpsuit.
Mr. Trump has eaten into Mrs. Clinton’s lead in national polls, suggesting the avalanche of news stories — some true, some not — related to the renewed FBI investigations of her emails has been a drag on her campaign.
“She is an unstable person — and I know my people, folks,” Mr. Trump said
Neither of the candidates have benefited from being in the spotlight for extended periods of time.
Mr. Trump said he would rebuild the military and defeat the Islamic State. He promised to strengthen services for military veterans, build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and to end illegal immigration.
Five days out from the election, Mr. Trump is down in Pennsylvania, but leading in New Hampshire, and up here in Ohio, where his supporters say they are confident he is poised to win.
“He cares more about the people than the government,” said Debbie H., who refused to give her full last name.
Mr. Trump has stops scheduled Saturday in Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Colorado.
His visit followed the announcement that the nation had added 161,000 jobs and the unemployment rate had dipped to 4.9 percent.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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