Clinton blames Comey for losing presidential election

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON

Hillary Clinton on Saturday blamed FBI Director James Comey for her loss to Donald Trump in the presidential election, according to media reports.

"There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful," Clinton told donors in a 30-minute conference call, according to the New York Times.

"Our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum." She also cited media coverage as a factor in her loss.

Eleven days before the elections, Comey wrote a letter to lawmakers that said emails "pertinent to the investigation" were found and being reviewed by the bureau into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.

Comey said the emails were discovered as part of an unrelated investigation into disgraced Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner who is being investigated for allegedly sending lewd photographs to an underage girl.

Weiner is married to top Clinton adviser Huma Abedin, but the couple is estranged.

The email controversy became the Achilles' heel of the Clinton campaign after it was revealed that between 2009 and 2013 she used her private email server, potentially exposing classified information.

Although Clinton received more votes, Trump became the president due to the winner-take-all system in the U.S., in which a candidate who receives the most votes in a state gets all of the electoral delegates from that state. The total number of electoral college delegates is 538. A candidate needs 270 delegates in order to become president.

Trump's unexpected victory was facilitated by wins in swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but also in Arizona and Wisconsin where the race was tight.