NEW YORK: Hillary Clinton on Tuesday laid the blame for her defeat in last year's White House race squarely at the feet of FBI director James Comey and Russia, saying their interference had "scared off" voters.
The Democrat, speaking at a women's forum in New York, said she took "absolute personal responsibility" for a series of campaign blunders that contributed to her loss against Donald Trump.
But she pointed a finger at Russian hacking and interference and, most notably, at the FBI director who revealed just before the November 8 election he was re-opening a probe into Clinton's use of a personal email server while secretary of state.
"I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off," Clinton said.
"If the election had been on October 27, I'd be your president."
In January the US intelligence community announced it had concluded Russia interfered in the election, and that President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to undermine the US democratic process and harm Clinton's electability in order to help Trump win. (APP)