Hillary Clinton Blames F.B.I. Director for Election Loss

Hillary Clinton Blames F.B.I. Director for Election Loss

In a telephone call to her campaign donors, Hillary Clinton has blamed FBI Director James Comey for her defeat in the U.S. presidential election, saying his reopening of a probe into her use of a private email server broke the momentum of her campaign.

Source: CNN.com

According to The New York Times, the Democratic nominee mentioned on the call FBI Director James Comey and the impact of Comey’s letter to Congress following his agency’s discovery of Clinton-related emails on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the scandal-ridden former congressman who had been married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

“There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” Mrs. Clinton said, according to a donor who relayed the remarks. But, she added, “our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum.”

Mrs. Clinton said a second letter from Mr. Comey, clearing her once again, which came two days before Election Day, had been even more damaging. In that letter, Mr. Comey said an examination of a new trove of emails, which had been found on the computer of Anthony D. Weiner, the estranged husband of one of her top aides, had not caused him to change his earlier conclusion that Mrs. Clinton should face no charges over her handling of classified information.

Clinton cleared, but damage done

Nine days after disclosing his letter to Congress, Comey spoke out again, saying that his agents' intensive study of the new emails showed no wrongdoing by Clinton, and thus there would be no change in his announcement more than three months earlier that she would not face any charges in connection with her handling of official email.

However, the political damage appeared to have been done.

Even though she was absolved of blame, Clinton said, the FBI director's remarks eroded her support in the upper Midwest, in states such as Wisconsin and Michigan, which often are called a "blue wall" of support for Democratic presidential candidates.

A spokesperson for the FBI could not immediately be reached for comment, Reuters reported.

Mrs. Clinton has kept a low profile since her concession speech at a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday. On Thursday, a young mother with her 13-month-old daughter spotted Mrs. Clinton walking her dogs near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., posting a photo of the defeated candidate on Facebook that quickly went viral along with the hashtag #ImStillWithHer.

On Friday night, Mrs. Clinton thanked volunteers on a nationwide conference call. “Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” she said, sighing. “These have been very, very tough days.”