Hillary Clinton thinks FBI Director James Comey is at fault for her devastating election loss to President-elect Donald Trump.
According to Politico, Clinton told wealthy Democratic donors in a conference call Saturday that Comey's second letter, which came three days before the election, not the first, which came 11 days before the election, proved to be detrimental to her campaign and their nationwide support.
Clinton told the donors that her campaign saw her numbers plunge after Comey's first letter, which later rebounded. But after the second letter, the damage was irreparable.
"There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” Clinton said, according to one donor who spoke with the New York Times, “our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum."
More from the Times:
Her campaign said the seemingly positive outcome had only hurt it with voters who did not trust Mrs. Clinton and were receptive to Mr. Trump’s claims of a “rigged system.” In particular, white suburban women who had been on the fence were reminded of the email imbroglio and broke decidedly in Mr. Trump’s favor, aides said.
Clinton explained to the donors that her campaign's internal polling data showed she was up in all but two battleground states, including many of the states she eventually lost to Trump.
The former secretary of state urged the donors to continue to stay active in politics, while supporting future Democratic candidates at the federal, state and local level.
Chris Enloe
Staff Writer
