Hillary Clinton blames loss on FBI's James Comey in call with top donors

Hillary  has blamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's decision to revive an investigation into her email accounts for her devastating defeat in the US presidential election.

In a call on Saturday with top campaign donors, Clinton said her campaign was in the lead 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.


at some stage in a convention call with top donors on saturday, mrs clinton stated that mr comey's intervention in the election had reversed her "momentum" and energised donald trump's supporters.

mr comey's announcement, made on oct 28 in a quick letter to participants of congress, brought about the democratic presidential nominee to tumble within the polls and revived mr trump's hopes of victory.

the surprise statement by the fbi came after three debates in which president-opt for donald trump, a republican, become widely panned for his overall performance. clinton advised the donors that her campaign turned into leading by means of massive margins in almost every battleground state and changed into tied in arizona, a traditionally republican stronghold, till comey released his letter.

trump's campaign and republican supporters seized at the news, although it became unclear whether or not clinton's correspondence turned into tied up within the probe.

comey instructed lawmakers the sunday earlier than the election that the bureau had found no proof to warrant crook expenses. his all clear message best served to further motivate trump supporters, clinton informed donors on the call.

within the 9 days between comey's preliminary announcement and his all clear declaration, nearly 24 million people forged early ballots. that changed into roughly 18 percent of the expected general votes for president.

even as clinton time-honored a few blame of her loss, stated donors who listened to her name, she made little point out of the numerous different elements political analysts saw as riding trump's victory.


there are masses of motives why an election like this isn't a hit, she said, in step with the big apple times, “our evaluation is that comey’s letter raising doubts that had been groundless, baseless, demonstrated to be, stopped our momentum.

that evaluation became echoed by way of navin nayak, the pinnacle of the clinton campaign's opinion studies department.

"we consider that we misplaced this election in the closing week. comey’s letter inside the final eleven days of the election each helped depress our turnout and additionally drove away a number of our critical guide among university-knowledgeable white voters - mainly within the suburbs,” mr nayak wrote in an e-mail obtained by politico.

clinton instructed her supporters on saturday that her crew had drafted a memo that looked at the converting opinion polls leading as much as the election and that the letter from comey proved to be a turning point.

the memo prepared by way of clinton's marketing campaign, a copy of which became seen through the reuters news business enterprise, stated electorate who determined which candidate to guide in the remaining week were more likely to help trump than clinton.

ultimately, late breaking developments within the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome, the memo concluded.

a spokesperson for the fbi couldn't at once be reached for comment.

democrats have spent lots of this week reeling for his or her loss, with many inside the party beginning a technique of soul-searching designed to determine out what exactly went wrong. liberals like senator bernie sanders and senator elizabeth warren say democrats need to include a extra competitive financial message — one clinton largely shied far from at some point of her marketing campaign.