Clinton blames loss on US-Russia contact

WASHINGTON – Agence France-Presse

Hillary Clinton went a step further May 31 in blaming her election loss to Donald Trump on Russian cyberattacks, saying Americans including associates of the Republican president likely had a hand in the effort.

The Democratic nominee in last year’s bitterly fought White House race addressed a technology conference in California, speaking at length about what she termed a Moscow-led campaign of “disinformation” against her that influenced the vote.

“The Russians, in my opinion, and based on the intel and counter-intel people I’ve talked to, could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they had been guided,” Clinton told the Recode conference, referring to an avalanche of false information, social media bots and hacks of Clinton campaign emails.

Some of those people helping the Russians, she said, had access to “polling and data information.”

Asked by a moderator who those individuals might be, Clinton said: “We’re getting more information about all of the contacts between Trump campaign officials and Trump associates with Russians before, during and after the election. So I hope that we’ll get enough information to be able to answer that question.”

“I’m leaning Trump,” she said of the connections. “I think it’s pretty hard not to.”

The Republican president struck back in a tweet late May 31, criticizing Clinton for failing to take responsibility for her loss.

“Crooked Hillary Clinton now blames everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate. Hits Facebook & even Dems & DNC,” he said.

He was referring to Clinton’s assertions during her talk that fake news about her was spread on Facebook, and that the Democratic Party, unlike the well-funded Republicans, did not have a sophisticated data system.