Hillary Clinton Blames Election Loss On Russian Hacking, James Comey Letter (LISTEN)

Hillary Clinton blamed her presidential election loss to Donald Trump on Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee and her campaign chairman along with FBI director James Comey's letter to Congress 11 days before the election.

She made the comments Thursday night in a speech to donors in Manhattan. The New York Times published a nine-minute audio excerpt of her remarks, some of her sternest yet since Election Day.

It's also the first time she's spoken in public since the U.S. intelligence community has reportedly concluded that Russian president Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Clinton said the hacking was meant to “undermine our democracy" and was done in retaliation for her saying, while U.S. secretary of state, that Russia's parliamentary elections in 2011 were rigged in Putin's favor.

"Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people," Clinton said, according to the audio, "and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election."

She also said Comey's letter — which reignited furor over her handling of classified information — helped swing the election toward Trump.

“Swing-state voters made their decisions in the final days breaking against me because of the F.B.I. letter from Director Comey,” Clinton told the group of donors, who the Times said collectively gave around $1 billion to her campaign

This story will be updated.

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons