Hillary Clinton: Reliving the 2016 Campaign Is ‘Painful’

Hillary Clinton wistfully reflected on the 2016 campaign on Tuesday, acknowledging that reliving her second failed attempt at the White House is painful, and that misogyny, FBI Director James Comey, and Russian interference played a role in her loss.

Clinton said it “would have been a really big deal” if she had won, during an event for “Women for Women” international with Christiane Amanpour. “I think especially internationally […] there is still so much inequity, so much unfairness, so much disrespect and discrimination toward women and girls.”

“Women’s rights is the unfinished issue of the 21st century,” she continued, noting her belief that she thinks society is moving backwards. There’s no more important larger issue that has to be addressed.”

Clinton, who was widely considered the frontrunner in the 2016 campaign before her shocking loss to President Donald Trump, is now writing a memoir about her experience on the campaign trail, set for release this fall, which she said has been difficult at times.

“Its a painful process, reliving the campaign,” said Clinton.

When Amanpour asked Clinton if she had been a victim of misogyny during the campaign, the audience immediately started chuckling.

“To give you a tiny preview [of her upcoming book] yes, I do think it played a role,” she responded. “It is real, it is very much a part of the landscape politically, socially and economically.”

But, Clinton noted that other factors helped too, particularly FBI Director James Comey’s decision to re-open the probe into her e-mails less than a month before election day, and the Russian’s reported attempt to influence the election, which the FBI is currently investigating.

“He certainly interfered in our election, and it was clear he interfered to hurt me and help my opponent,” Clinton said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “And if you chart my opponent and his campaign’s statements they quite coordinated with the goals that that leader who shall remain nameless had.”