Clinton blames FBI director for presidential election loss
Hillary Clinton is blaming the FBI’s decision to revive its examination of her email accounts for her devastating defeat in the presidential election.
On a call Saturday with top campaign donors, Clinton said her campaign was winning until FBI director James Comey sent a letter to Congress on October 28 announcing that the FBI had uncovered emails possibly related to its earlier probe into her use of a private server as secretary of state. The new examination was sparked by an unrelated investigation into former New York politician Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of her top aides.
The surprise announcement by the FBI came after three debates in which Republican Donald Trump was widely panned for his performance. Clinton told the donors that her campaign was leading by large margins in nearly every battleground state and was tied in Arizona, a traditionally Republican stronghold, until Comey released his letter.
Trump’s campaign and Republican supporters seized on the news, even though it was unclear whether Clinton’s correspondence was tied up in the probe.
In the nine days between Comey’s initial statement and his “all clear” announcement, nearly 24 million people cast early ballots. That was roughly 18 per cent of the expected total votes for president.
While Clinton accepted some blame of her loss, said donors who listened to her call, she made little mention of the other factors driving Trump’s victory: A desire for change by voters, possible sexism, the difficulty of a political party winning a third White House term, her campaign’s all-but-dismissal of white working class voters and flaws within her own message.
Donors on the call were not authorised to discuss her comments by name and requested anonymity.