Donald Trump Says He Has 'A Lot Of Respect' For Hillary Clinton, Whom He Called Crooked And Threatened To Jail

Donald Trump claimed to have 'enormous respect' for Hillary Clinton today, despite having repeatedly branding her crooked and threatening to throw her in jail.

At a congressional luncheon following his inauguration, he called on attendees to give a standing ovation to Mrs Clinton and her husband, former President Bill, whom he once described as "the worst abuser of women in US political history."

He applauded them before saying: "Honestly there’s nothing more I can say because I have a lot of respect for those two people.”

Aside from branding his Democratic rival “crooked Hillary”, he said in the past year that she had “defrauded America”, had “zero natural talent”, her “judgement has killed thousands”, and she had been “involved in corruption for most of her professional life”.

Donald Trump was sworn in as President today in a ceremony in Washington DC.

In his inaugural speech, Billionaire property developer and media mogul Trump said for too long the US had been controlled by the elites.

Elsewhere in his speech, Trump promised to end crime and gang violence in America.

He said: "The crime, and the gangs, and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealised potential.

New U.S. president vows to 'put America first' in his first speech

"This American carnage stops right here and stops right now."

Meanwhile, former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David Duke sent his congratulations to Donald Trump on his inauguration as President.

He tweeted: "We did it!"