Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a new interview that she is now convinced that President Donald Trump’s associates helped the Russian government meddle in the 2016 election, telling USA Today she has “no doubt in my mind” that there was communication and possibly collusion between the two parties.
“There certainly was communication and there certainly was an understanding of some sort,” she told USA Today Monday. “Because there’s no doubt in my mind that Putin wanted me to lose and wanted Trump to win. And there’s no doubt in my mind that there are a tangle of financial relationships between Trump and his operation with Russian money. And there’s no doubt in my mind that the Trump campaign and other associates have worked really hard to hide their connections with Russians.”
The interview was part of Clinton’s promotion of her campaign tell-all, “What Happened.”
She said she is “convinced” the Trump campaign was involved in some type of coordination with Russia, but said she “happen(s) to believe in the rule of law and believe in evidence,” so she didn’t want to “make all kinds of outrageous claims.”
“But if you look at what we’ve learned since (the election), it’s pretty troubling,” she said.
She said she thinks the Russian president has had a “personal vendetta” against her since her husband’s presidency and because of certain moves she made as secretary of state.
“Yet I never imagined that he would have the audacity to launch a massive covert attack against our own democracy, right under our noses — and that he’d get away with it,” she said.
She told USA Today that she thinks there is still more to learn about Russia meddling in the election, including Wikileaks’ release of her campaign manager’s and the Democratic National Committee’s emails and Facebook ads that could have fueled Russian interests.
Read the full interview here.
