Clinton Blames 2016 Outcome on Comey, Russia and Herself

(CN) — Hillary Clinton on Tuesday delivered her most extensive assessment to date of the 2016 presidential contest, blaming herself but also saying Russian interference, questionable decisions by FBI Director James Comey, and misogyny all played a part in Donald Trump's victory.

The former Democratic presidential nominee spoke at the Women for Women International's annual luncheon in New York City, during a question-and-answer session with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"I take absolute personal responsibility. I was the candidate, I was the person who was on the ballot. I am very aware of the challenges, the problems, the shortfalls that we had," Clinton said. "It wasn't a perfect campaign. There is no such thing ... but I was on the way to winning until a combination of (FBI Director) Jim Comey's letter on Oct. 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off."

Clinton, who is writing a book that will include her reflections on the 2016 race for the White House, added, "The reason I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days."

The former first lady and secretary of state, admitted that reliving the race for the sake of her forthcoming book is "painful."

But she couldn't suppress a smile when she reminded attendees she actually received 3 million more votes than Trump.

"If the election were on Oct. 27, I would be your president," Clinton said.

With that, Amanpour joked that the president would certainly tweet about the comment before the end of the day.

"Fine. Better than the interfering in foreign affairs," Clinton said. "If he wants to tweet about me then I am happy to be the diversion because we have lot of things to worry about. He should worry less about the election and my winning the popular vote than doing some other things that would be important for the country."

Clinton also pulled no punches when it came to the subject of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the role Russian Hackers played in shaping the election's outcome.

"He certainly interfered in our election," she said of Putin. "And it's clear he interfered to hurt me and help my opponent."

Amanpour then asked Clinton whether she believes she was a victim of misogyny.

"Yes, I do think it played a role," she said. "It's very much a part of the landscape politically, socially and economically."

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