New York – Hillary Clinton blamed FBI director James Comey for her stunning defeat in Tuesday’s presidential election in a conference call with her top campaign funders on Saturday, according to two participants who were on the call.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Clinton was projected by nearly every national public opinion poll as the heavy favorite going into Tuesday’s race. Instead, Republican Donald Trump won the election, shocking many throughout the nation and prompting widespread protests.
Clinton has kept a low profile since her defeat after delivering her concession speech on Wednesday morning.
Clinton told her supporters on Saturday that her team had drafted a memo that looked at the changing opinion polls leading up to the election and that the letter from Comey proved to be a turning point. She said Comey’s decision to go public with the renewed examination of her email server had caused an erosion of support in the upper Midwest, according to three people familiar with the call.
Clinton lost in Wisconsin, the first time since 1984 that the state favored the Republican candidate in a presidential election. Although the final result in Michigan has still not been tallied, it is leaning Republican, in a state that last favored the Republican nominee in 1988.
Comey sent a letter to Congress only days before the election announcing that he was reinstating an investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information when she used a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2012.
Comey announced a week later that he had reviewed emails and continued to believe she should not be prosecuted, but the political damage was already done.
Clinton told donors that Trump was able to seize on both of Comey’s announcements and use them to attack her, according to two participants on the call.
While the second letter cleared her of wrongdoing, Clinton said that reinforced to Trump’s supporters that the system was rigged in her favor and motivated them to mobilize on Election Day.
The memo prepared by Clinton’s campaign, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said voters who decided which candidate to support in the last week were more likely to support Trump than Clinton.
“In the end, late breaking developments in the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome,” the memo concludes.
A spokesperson for the FBI could not immediately be reached for comment.
On the phone call, Dennis Chang, who served as Clinton’s finance chair, said her campaign and the national party had raised more than $900 million from more than 3 million individual donors, according to the two participants who spoke to Reuters.
Obama was a looser and hilary was going to follow his programs that were a disaster.
Good. She deserves to loses she’s lying piece of liberal garbage.
Why can’t they just admit ….There is Hashem who runs the world !!!
If she’s blaming Comey then she should blame herself. She’s the one who set up the server illegally and admitted it was a mistake. Hey, mistakes sometimes pays a high price. With the Clintons it’s always some else fault!
As she has done all of her life, she blames anyone but herself for her failures.
She will blame the sun for her fading away into the sunset.
Typical liberal arrogance, it wasn’t her criminal activity, it wasn’t her failed tenure at the state dept. It wasn’t her pay to play schemes or any of the Miriad of others scandles she , her family , and the scoundrels in her inner circle were involved in. No, it was James Comey doing his job and exposing them all to the public that defeated her,
Typical left wing tactic. Blame someone else for your miserable failures
Obama is still blaming George W. Bush for his own miserable record the last 8 years.
Comey purposely staggered the info to harm Clinton. Clinton should have won.
Hillary should look in the mirror and BLAME HERSELF for trying to be ABOVE THE LAW with all she did in the past 30 years.
Americans are fed up with people like her.
We can all say it was from hashem , her fault etc. , bet definetly comey was the shliach.
You gotta find someone to blame. It’s the democrat way!
She simply was not a very good candidate. Neither was Trump, in truth.
Sore loser!
The liberal media was hounding Trump because they thought he wouldn’t make a concession speech and she is the one that didn’t! Sore loser!
Comey should have indicted her! She should kiss his feet! Ingrate!
Sore loser!
Someone should ask her the same question that she asked during Benghazi investigation regarding 4 dead Americans: ‘What difference does it make’.
It was many people’s fears she would pardon frum criminals who stole millions like her husband pardoned the New Square thieves. She met with our people more frequently than with any other group and this frightened many non frum.
I guess she’s changed her tune from her concession speech where she blamed her loss on “the glass ceiling not truly being broken”
Is the FBI part of the “right wing conspiracy”?
The U.S. Justice Dept. must ensure that a federal grand jury indict Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and others who were involved in the scandal involving the Clinton Foundation, and the influence which it bought foreign governments at the State Department. There should be no mercy shown to either one of them. This time, there will be no pardon for either one of those crooks!!
It was her last minute pandering in a black church masquerading as a priest that moved people, and many things happened in the last few days, simply those on the fence made a smart choice.
Let her understand that the election was on the 8, not the 7,the 6, 5 or any other day.
Even if you see the finish line you still have to get there.
Although she has only herself to blame, the timing of the announcement was no doubt the deciding factor. I know most commentators here decided long before, but your NY NJ votes had no say..
After the release of Trumps degrading talk, everyone distant themselves and he was done, his base lost the enthusiasm etc. The FBI probe indeed re-energized his base, and again reinstated his message of “crooked Hillary”.
I feel sorry for Comey he fell into the trap like the people during whitewater investigation. The problem with that investigation was there were many political as well as physical deaths, I hope it doesn’t happen this time.
Although she has only herself to blame, the timing of the announcement was no doubt the deciding factor. I know most commentators here decided long before, but your NY NJ votes had no say..
After the release of Trumps degrading talk, everyone distant themselves and he was done, his base lost the enthusiasm etc. The FBI probe indeed re-energized his base, and again reinstated his message of “crooked Hillary”.
It was her last minute pandering in a black church masquerading as a priest that moved people, and many things happened in the last few days, simply those on the fence made a smart choice.
Let her understand that the election was on the 8, not the 7,the 6, 5 or any other day.
Even if you see the finish line you still have to get there.