Hillary Clinton has said that she is taking responsibility for her 2016 election loss but believes misogyny, Russian interference and questionable decisions by the FBI influenced the outcome.
The former Democratic presidential nominee offered extensive comments about the election during the Women for Women International’s annual luncheon in New York on Tuesday.
She said she has been going through the “painful” process of reliving the 2016 contest while writing a book.
“It wasn’t a perfect campaign. There is no such thing,” Clinton said in a question-and-answer-session with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“But I was on the way to winning until a combination of [FBI Director] Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off.”
Forecaster FiverThirtyEight said that when FBI Director James Comey told Congress on October 28 that he was reviewing additional emails pertinent to the case of Clinton’s email server, she had an 81 percent chance of winning the election.
A week later, her chances were 65 percent, according to the same forecast.
Clinton reminded the enthusiastic audience packed with women that she earned 3 million more votes than Republican Donald Trump, who won more Electoral College votes and won the election.
“If the election were on October 27, I would be your president,” Clinton said.
Russian hacking
She also highlighted Russia’s alleged role in hacking into her campaign’s internal emails and subsequently coordinating their release on WikiLeaks.
US intelligence agencies are investigating whether Russia coordinated with Trump associates to influence the election, something Russia has denied.
“He [Russian President Vladimir Putin] certainly interfered in our election,” Clinton said. “And it’s clear he interfered to hurt me and help my opponent.”
Amanpour also asked Clinton whether she was a victim of misogyny.
“Yes, I do think it played a role,” she said, adding that misogyny is “very much a part of the landscape politically, socially and economically”.
After two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, Clinton is not expected to run for public office again.
“I’m now back to being an activist citizen and part of the resistance,” she said.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.