Watch: White House won't rule out a pardon for Clinton

The day following Donald Trump's presidential victory, the White House wouldn't rule out the possibility of extending a presidential pardon to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to protect her from any prosecution by President-elect Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded to a question about whether Obama had considered the idea of granting a pardon to the former Secretary of State Clinton for any future problems stemming from the ongoing FBI investigation into her private email server.

Trump has stated several times throughout his campaign and even during a presidential debate that he would appoint a special prosecutor to Clinton's case because she "has to go to jail."

Earnest avoided a direct answer, saying, "The president has offered clemency to a substantial number of Americans who were previously serving time in federal prisons."

"We didn’t talk in advance about the president’s plans to offer clemency to any of those individuals and that’s because we don’t talk about the president’s thinking, particularly with respect to any specific cases that may apply to pardons or commutations," he added.

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Later during the press conference, Earnest mentioned that Obama was encouraged by the tone of Trump's victory speech, and saw it as an indication that perhaps Trump would change his mind and decide not to call for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton when he takes office.