WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump will not push for further investigation of Hillary Clinton related to her private email use and the Clinton Foundation, a close adviser said, breaking with a key campaign theme. 

Trump triggered consternation and widespread condemnation when he made an unprecedented campaign threat to jail his Democratic rival should he win the White House.

The Republican made Clinton's email scandal and allegations of pay-to-play at her family foundation core themes of his campaign, railing against her "crimes" and leading fired-up supporters in chants of "Lock her Up!"

But since his election he has deflected questioning on the subject, saying in an interview he would think about it, but had other priorities as incoming head of state.

MSNBC, which first reported that Trump would not push for further investigation of Hillary Clinton, said Trump aide Kellyanne Conway confirmed "I think when the president-elect... tells you before he's even inaugurated that he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content" to fellow Republicans, she told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Rudy Giuliani, a vice chairman of Trump's transition team, told reporters a decision not to investigate would be consistent with a US tradition "that after you win an election, you sort of put things behind you."

"And if that's the decision he reached, that's perfectly consistent with sort of a historical pattern of things come up, you say a lot of things, even some bad things might happen, and then you can sort of put it behind you in order to unite the nation," Giuliani said.

"So if he made that decision, I would be supportive of it. I'd also be supportive of continuing the investigation. I think the president-elect had a tough choice there, you could go either way."

-APP