Hillary Clinton Blames Election Loss on FBI Director James Comey

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has blamed her surprise election loss on interventions by the FBI director, James Comey.

James Comey had revived the inquiry into her use of email while secretary of state shortly before Election Day had stopped her campaign’s momentum, Hillary Clinton said.

She was speaking to top party donors in a phone call, which was leaked to the media.

Protests are continuing against Donald Trump’s win.

In New York, about 2,000 marchers headed for the skyscraper where the president-elect lives, shouting “not my president”.

Anti-Trump activists have held daily protests in US cities since his election victory was confirmed on Wednesday.

Donald Trump seems to be rowing back on some of his campaign pledges. Having promised to scrap President Barack Obama’s Affordable Act – ObamaCare – he now says he is open to leaving intact key parts of the act.

The Republican is due to be sworn in on January 20, taking over from President Obama, who will have completed two terms in office.

Hillary Clinton, who served as Barack Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, has been keeping a low profile since conceding victory.

On October 28, James Comey informed Congress that the FBI was examining newly discovered emails sent or received by Hillary Clinton, thus reviving an investigation which had been completed in July.

Then, on November 6, two days before the election, James Comey announced in a second letter that he was standing by his original assessment – that Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges.

“There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” Hillary Clinton told the donors on a farewell conference call on November 12.

“But our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum. We dropped, and we had to keep really pushing ahead to regain our advantage.”

Hillary Clinton added that James Comey’s later recommendation that she should face no charges had energized Donald Trump’s supporters.

Her campaign team said that despite Hillary Clinton being cleared of criminal behavior, the move only revived Donald Trump’s claim that the Democratic candidate was being protected by a rigged system.