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Clinton blames FBI director for presidential election loss

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton walks off the stage after speaking in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016. Clinton conceded the presidency to Donald Trump in a phone call early Wednesday morning, a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised right up until election day to make her the first woman elected U.S. president.

WASHINGTON >> 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 Oct. 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 Rep. 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.

Comey told lawmakers the Sunday before the election that the bureau had found no evidence to warrant criminal charges. His “all clear” message only served to further motivate Trump supporters, Clinton told donors on the call.

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 percent 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 authorized to discuss her comments by name and requested anonymity to describe them to The Associated Press.

Democrats have spent much of this week reeling for their loss, with many in the party beginning a process of soul-searching designed to sort out what exactly went wrong. Liberals like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren say Democrats must embrace a more aggressive economic message — one Clinton largely shied away from during her campaign.

104 responses to “Clinton blames FBI director for presidential election loss”

  1. Pocho says:

    here we go again. The Democrats/LIberals blaming everyone and everything but themselves. “smh”

    • Pocho says:

      Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up!

      • Keonigohan says:

        hiLIARy…poster child for CORRUPTION AT ITS WORSE!
        End of the line for the clinton CARTEL.

        • wiliki says:

          Nope… Comey needs to be accountable for his actions. He violated his own dept policy.

        • dragoninwater says:

          wiliki, you are a deplorable loser. Cite the sources where FBI policy was violated.

        • Keonigohan says:

          Wiliki..do you know what this case is about? Do you know who caused this to begin with?

        • wiliki says:

          Comey himself has admitted to violating dept policy.

        • localguy says:

          wiliki – Totally wrong again. Hillary has a law degree, passed the bar, worked in legal. She spent years as a state senator and then more years as Sec of State.

          With all that experience, Hillary knew or should have known what would happen when she willfully failed to use US Government secure email.

          Hillary refuses to admit she is at fault for all the email related issues her failures created. Another example of her massive personal and professional failures.

          Comey didn’t make up the email debacle. Hillary did. She has yet to accept responsibility for her incompetence.

          Deal with your failures Hillary.

        • jusris says:

          IRT local guy: preach it brother, when will these guys learn, you don’t mess with the Donald.

    • Keonigohan says:

      Yup exactly!

      • wiliki says:

        Once again Republicans deny the truth. Listen again to what she says. It makes a lot of sense. Clinton was counting votes and she knew the race was tight.

        • Paulh808 says:

          You lost and voted for the most corrupt candidate in history. Time to look in the mirror and ask yourself why you were on the wrong side of this historical movement!

        • DeltaDag says:

          Given his assurances of transparency, Comey faced criticism no matter what he chose to do. And in any case, as Loretta Lynch aptly demonstrated with her meeting with Bill, a lot of poor, if not unethical decisions were made that contributed to Hillary’s and the DNC’s woes. You might even say Anthony Wiener gifted the Trump campaign something too good to be ignored.

          But the fact remains that Hillary Clinton was a deeply flawed candidate that Democrats chose to gamble on and lost. As post-election analysis revealed, she was not black enough to fully benefit from the minority support so crucial to Obama’s earlier victories.

          She must find it terribly hard to accept the irony, given that by policy decisions, it was Bill Clinton – and not Barack Obama – who was this country’s first black president.

        • Keonigohan says:

          Wiliki…in your lifetime have you ever made a mistake & taken responsibility for it?

        • wiliki says:

          We kupuna have made a lot of mistakes. We have learned many things the hard way. And we will continue to make mistakes..

          Mr Trump has never apologised for his assaults on women.

        • Keonigohan says:

          wiliki… you didn’t my question. So you have never taken responsibility..or rather never made a mistake…correct?

        • Pocho says:

          Where’s the BEEF(facts) he assaulted the women you said he did? Did Trump go to trial on those assaults? Your all about assumptions pinning Trump like all Liberal Democrats do because you and they are grabbing at straws. lol

        • justmyview371 says:

          Clinton can’t count.

        • yhls says:

          Baloney. The polls were skewed from the get go. The liberal media acted like the public relations arm of the Clinton campaign and not an objective News source. They are forever ruined. And will never be trusted as a reliable source of information. They never asked the right people. And even if they did, people refused to divulge their true feelings. And by the way, sheep (liberal Democrats) don’t tell wolves (for the time being, Republicans) what they should feel and think. Eight years of Obama’s sickening ultra left-wing liberal policies is enough. People don’t want any more of it or the Clintons.

        • jusris says:

          IRT yhls: great comment who do these clowns think they are talking too, we run the show now and sheep have no say in the matter. Let’s come together as a people for America. #MAGA

        • justmyview371 says:

          But she only has so many fingers and toes.

  2. calentura says:

    Lucky not to be under indictment.

  3. livinginhawaii says:

    This makes be feel much better over her loss – failure to take personal responsibility and accountability is a pathetic trait for a leader.

  4. earlson says:

    of course the FBI investigation had nothing to do with the fact that Hillary was breaking the law so it has to be the FBI’s fault for doing its job rather than doing the job of helping electing Hillary president like the Dept. of Justice did.

  5. dontbelieveinmyths says:

    I wish the media would just let it go and let Trump do his job. In four years, if things are not as you would want it, elect someone else. Simple, isn’t it?

  6. BO0o07 says:

    Typical of Hillary to blame anybody but herself. Democrats need to embrace not only a more aggressive economic message but also embrace the U.S. Constitution and what’s good for all Americans and not just progressive socialist liberal democrats.

  7. Pacificsports says:

    An electoral college predicting site backs up her allegations. This was like the last minute smear campaign that dooms a candidate who hasn’t sufficient time to rebut and recover. That site showed Clinton with a commanding lead before the FBI smear, afterwards, they were almost even, even days before the election, Clinton only regained a handful of her lost electoral votes.

    • Donna2415 says:

      If Clinton had followed proper procedures for e-mails when she the Secretary of State this would have been a non-issue. It’s all her fault. Now she is whining about being “smeared” by the FBI. Remember, the FBI cleared her in July on very flimsy legal reasoning.

      • DeltaDag says:

        Recall how hard klastri was to pin down on this very point. In a very Bill Clintonesque way, he would trot out his considerable lawyerly skills to argue that Hillary’s “lapses in judgment” were of little concern, all things considered.

        “It all depends on what ‘is’ is.”

      • inverse says:

        Agree. Comey was unethical by generating his vague letter so close to the election when he could have used FBI computers to determine the additional hundreds of thousands of emails where duplicates or not related to Hillary and could not be used in any criminal proceedings against Hillary. Having said that Hillary was irresponsible to create her home brew email server for classified information and really should have been indicted given General Petreaus was indicted for similar offenses like Hillary. Who knows for sure who or what country has hacked into Hillary’s home brew email server. The Democratic party, including insiders like Podesta and Wasserman Shulz all got their email’s compromised from hackers.

    • wiliki says:

      I agree. Fire Comey. He violated his own FBI policy.

    • DeltaDag says:

      You must also consider the very real, and mostly ignored, peril inherent in early voting and mail-in ballots. Unless you make it a point to get up off your duff and get to the polls on election day, you forfeit the last minute flexibility to cast your vote based upon the latest and best intelligence. It will never be known for certain how many early voters ended up regretting the choice they made, but it certainly wasn’t zero. For those who found themselves in that position, well, maybe you should have put more thought into the voting process and the volatile nature of current events. Live and learn.

    • meat says:

      First of all, a” predicting site”? really? Second of all, Thank you A. Wiener. Hilarious. You just can’t make this stuff up. 2 terms of Mr. Trump ahead of us.

  8. ricekidd says:

    Moan and groan all you want Hillary…. You are the reason why you lost…Lies, Lies, Lies. thats the reason you fallied and lost.
    No wonder the democrats protesting… just like their leader(Hillary) thier bunch of spoiled kiddies….

  9. butinski says:

    Enough of crooked HRC. Just blame herself instead of Comey. Here’s a thought: Joe Biden could have been the president elect if personal family tragedy hadn’t occurred.

    • Paulh808 says:

      And he wasn’t a buffon!

      • DeltaDag says:

        Well, not so fast. “Uncle” Joe Biden did recommend firing a blast ftom a shotgun through a door to deter intruders. Trouble is, unless you’re politically well connected, doing so will land you in jail in most jurisdictions.

        And like Hillary proved during her debate with Trump, Biden remains ignorant about what the decision in District of Columbia v. Heller was all about. No, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the safety of children. (It was at that exact moment in the debates that put the lie to Hillary Clinton’s claim of being a 2nd Amendment supporter.)

    • jusris says:

      butinski: Biden is a weak, he should have been a man like Trump and campaigned for the American people but he didn’t cause he was only worried about himself and his losses, in Trumpland we call that a loser. #MAGA

  10. Kalaheo1 says:

    That’s like missing a job interview because you got pulled over for speeding and blaming the police.

  11. fiveo says:

    The only person responsible for the loss to Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton. And she lost despite having the drive by media on her side and the globalists and power elite
    and one World Order proponents and lackeys such as the Bush Crime family and George Soros hacking for her and the zombie fools who supported her.
    Given the vast and powerful forces arrayed against Trump, his victory must have been influenced by Providence and the fact that Hillary was such a corrupt, dishonest and
    a terrible excuse for a human being.

  12. Bumby says:

    The Clinton Foundation is still being investigated. The biggest tip off that this foundation was a pay to play, will now be manifested going forward. The hundred of millions received by foreign countries and its leaders will show very little donations going forward. Who or what foreign country will continue to donate millions. If the amount continue to be such than we can say it is legit. If the amount drops off significantly than we can say the pay to play is now dormant.

    • nalogirl says:

      Bumby, good thought. Let’s see if the Clinton Foundation continues in donations at the pace when she was Sec of St., or the democratic nominee. Bet you it is going was, way down. At least Chelsea got her 3 million dollar wedding paid by the Foundation before it crumbles.

  13. udonnome says:

    Hilliary is a treasonist! The end of an era for the Clinton Cartel Corruption dynasty.

    • dragoninwater says:

      They have offspring, something tells me they’ll throw Chelsea under the bus and might force her to follow her mother’s footsteps to continue their corrupt foundation.

  14. serious says:

    She should look at her rallies. When Trump had a rally, people stood in line to hear him. When Hillary had one she had to have entertainers, celebrities, athletes, etc to draw the crowds. Then look who rallied for her: Bill, Barry, Michelle, Biden, Pelosi, Reid–and what did they spell–ESTABLISHMENT–Trump had his kids–the Republicans against him were the two Bushes, Powell–and what did they spell ESTABLISHMENT. And what were the people against??? ESTABLISHMENT!!! She should look in the mirror–to give paid speeches for Wall Street firms–was not exactly smart!!

  15. st1d says:

    to the hippocrat:

    american voters rejected the entrenched democrat culture of open blatant corruption represented by obama and the female felon.

    american voters rejected the selling of america’s resources (coal and uranium) and influence peddling (including russia and saudi arabia) as represented by the congenital liar’s criminal money laundering operation run as her personal slush fund.

    american voters rejected obama’s attempts at diminishing america’s leading role in international politics and the female felon’s promise to continue obama’s policies in international politics.

    american voters rejected the female felon’s mishandling of classified information, the obstruction of justice in destroying evidence and hindering the investigation.

    american voters rejected democrat’s condescending patronizing attitude towards gruber and deplorable voters.

    american voters rejected democrat “rigging” of primary and general elections with the media, shared debate questions, manipulations by wasserman-shultz, brazile and abedin.

    american voters rejected the female felon’s numerous attempts to hide information on her steadily deteriorating personal health issues that related directly to her inability to perform the duties of president.

    american voters were no longer interested to elect a “first” only to discover they selected another “worst” just to be politically correct.

  16. nalogirl says:

    Clinton needs to grow up and look in the mirror. She caused her loss. Between making millions of dollars for the Clinton Foundation, to her private email server, calling half the voters deplorable and completely villifiying white males. No wonder she lost.

  17. ready2go says:

    If unsolicited, as an enforcement agency, he crossed the line.

    • st1d says:

      during his initial hearing with congress after declaring the f.b.i. would not forward the case to the justice department, congress prompted comey who promised that he would update congress if anything new turned up.

      something new did turn up.

      comey notified congress as he promised he would at congress’ prompting.

      besides, we all know there is no line that can not be erased or crossed in the obama administration.

  18. AhiPoke says:

    While I think the FBI investigation may have had an impact, the bottom line is that she was a terrible candidate with a poor record, suspicions about her honesty and she ran for a third Obama term. IMO she lost when any reasonable Democratic candidate would have won. Hillary you need to man up and take responsibility.

  19. WizardOfMoa says:

    Is this the same grace David Shapiro refer in his column of Obama for Trump? Clinton and her band of wannabes lost, because they were too big for their breeches! They threw every deplorable actions, words, statements and past conducts of Mr. Trump at the people it backfired on them. Accept your loss with grace Ms. Clinton and show us the lady within you! In addition , that grace of acceptance of the President-elect Trump should also drape on the shoulders of our President. On a different note – what happen to the 800.00 plus room reservations made by those loyal Clinton’s participants for her inauguration? Lost out on that too eh?

  20. nomu1001 says:

    When people care about their vision of America, care about what our country stands for, care about what is important in their towns and communities, but have little idea of how to make sure they are heard. What happens then?

    What can each person can do to make sure their voices are heard? Do you write or email your representatives? And how will you be assured that your letter for all those things that concerns you will be read and taken seriously, and not just thrown into their round filing cabinet with a fleeting thought?

    Or do you just hear them speak to you through the media news as usual, give you vague generalities, and then force you into thinking, “here we go again?”

    Has your party made sure you know who or what organizations to make donations to, that support your views for those issues that concern you? Or do you find yourself on the internet researching things for yourself, not knowing whether your representative shares these same views?

    Do you ever feel like they are telling you only what they want you to know, like something is somehow missing in their message, so you end up feeling like they want your vote for something that you don’t really understand, or may not even want?

    Have you ever wondered what your representative has done lately to reach out to you?

    When your party has not taken the steps to connect with you, have not taken steps to make sure that anyone can feel free and comfortable to make their concerns heard, made sure you are not hesitant to say what concerns you because you feel you may just be ignored or worse, face retribution, then you get Trump. What actually happens is that people begin to care less about party lines, and more about what the candidate offers.

    And if you are on the losing side in this election, you have to have some confidence from your leadership that they will continue to fight for you and your vision of America. How many of us actually feel that is happening? Instead, Clinton chooses to blame Comey. Ridiculous.

    We don’t need to wait to hear from a bunch of poll wonks who feel they need to figure out just what happened. Instead, this just reflects the poor leadership we have in place. We need some common sense leadership, give people some silver lining, hope, and most urgently, to alleviate their fears.

  21. laeboy says:

    I thought there was some sort of discussion about accepting the outcome of this election?!?!?!? What exactly is Bill’s wife doing not doing just that. Time to move on loser. In the world there are winners and losers! Not blue ribbons and participation trophies. Come now move on

  22. rayhawaii says:

    Who is perfect? I’m sure plenty people against Trump did the same sex things he did and still doing it. Some even sent out text and emails that they were trying to hide and were later found by a spouse or friend. People always casting the first stone when they don’t look at their own life before speaking up.

  23. yogaman says:

    She only has herself to blame for setting up a private server to circumvent any FOIA investigations and using State Department for personal financial gain. With all the information out there and the confirmation of perjury in her congressional testimony in 2015, charges and indictment should be brought as soon as the new administration is in to show everyone that no one is above the law.

  24. saywhatyouthink says:

    Personally, I think her position on Muslim immigration in general, and Syrian refugees in particular really hurt her. The democratic party refuses to acknowledge the dangers posed by Islamic extremism,refusing to even call it what it is. It’s that type of political correctness that lost her the election along with a nagging perception that she is incapable of telling the truth. In the end it was no ones fault but her own.

    • jusris says:

      You are correct in your thinking but you are still being PC, and to heck with PC. What we should be saying is how did a woman think she could beat a man for President, every movie I watch tells me that it’s supposed to be a man running the country not a woman. #MAGA

  25. atilter says:

    a primiere character flaw – an unshakeable ability to blame others for a personal error, committing a illegal act, criminal or treasonous, stretching or spinning the truth to suit one’s position – that is sure to dog the HC campaign for for a long painful time.

  26. yhls says:

    Cognitive Dissonance at its best. Same goes for her legions of supporters. It’s over. You lost. Nothing you can do will change it.

  27. BigOpu says:

    Sucks when you lose at her own game. Deception.

  28. Kahu Matu says:

    Take responsibility for your own mistakes. It wasn’t the FBI director, it was because you couldn’t buy and manipulate your way into the oval office. In addition, you are the most unliked politician in America.

    • jusris says:

      You tell em, great comment, these clowns think that they can just buy us, we know what’s up. Rich people, am I right? Make them struggle like Donald did all those years then talk that junk.

      • Kahu Matu says:

        Not against rich people but she manipulated herself through the primary and bought her way into the general election over Sanders. Trump won the people’s vote and did not manipulate the party to get ahead.

  29. laupahoeboy says:

    I don’t agree. I don’t even think the FBI’s final round of email talk did much of anything except as a final straw. What did do Clinton in is that she is part of the Washington establishment that a good slice of the voters are tired of. Trump, albeit a big mouth and having no class, tuned into that anger and got elected. He listened to his advisors and said enough things on both sides of issues so whatever he said could not be taken as promises or policy statements, and in that he was acting in the traditional American politician tradition. But he offers a chance for serious change, and that Clinton did not do, and this caused her to lose the vote.

  30. peanutgallery says:

    The FBI didn’t do Hillary in. She did herself in. Nobody likes her, even her own party. They dropped her like a hot knife when Barack showed his head the first time around. The Clintons are bad news, and sore losers. Everyone knows this.

  31. justmyview371 says:

    Have to blame someone.

  32. Rickyboy says:

    ONLY IN AMERICA! GO USA!

  33. Marauders_1959 says:

    Sure… blame everyone else !!!

  34. HOSSANA says:

    Hillary a.k.a. felon Clinton should just look in the mirror to find out who’s responsible for her losing the Presidential election. Nothing more and nothing less.
    All you protesters and demonstrators saying Clinton should have won or should have been elected President, well, GUESS WHAT??
    YOU LOST so GET A LIFE!!!!!

  35. matthew56 says:

    maybe she shouldn’t have been a threat to national security to begin with??

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