Hillary Clinton calls Macron win a ‘defeat to those interfering with democracy’
In a nod to her own most recent race, Hillary Clinton called Emmanuel Macron’s landslide victory over Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist favored by President Trump, in Sunday’s French presidential election a win for France, the European Union and the world — and a “defeat to those interfering with democracy.”
Macron’s campaign said on Friday it had been the target of a “massive” computer hack of its emails, a breach reminiscent of the one that targeted Clinton during the 2016 election.
The U.S. accused Russia of spearheading the hacks, which resulted in weeks of negative headlines for Clinton as leaked emails were published on WikiLeaks. Some security analysts also believed the Kremlin had a role in the French hacking, which also released a trove of emails on the eve of that election.
Le Pen had staked out a more pro-Russia and anti-European Union stance than Macron, who was endorsed by former President Barack Obama. Trump praised Le Pen as the stronger candidate on immigration and terrorism.
Victory for Macron, for France, the EU, & the world.
Defeat to those interfering w/democracy. (But the media says I can't talk about that)
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 7, 2017
“Victory for Macron, for France, the EU, & the world,” Clinton tweeted. “Defeat to those interfering w/democracy. (But the media says I can’t talk about that).”
Last week, Clinton argued that she would be president had it not been for Russia’s meddling in the election and FBI Director James Comey’s 11th-hour letter to Congress about the investigation into her use of a private email server.
“If the election had been on Oct. 27, I would be your president,” Clinton said. “I was on the way to winning until a combination of 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.”
“Did we make mistakes? Of course we did. Did I make mistakes? Oh my gosh, yes,” she added. “But the reason I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days.”
But some media critics, including former Obama White House communications director Jen Psaki, aren’t so sure.
“I do think if you look at her comments … about how it would have been guaranteed she would have won in October 27th, we don’t really know that,” Psaki said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “The perception of her was baked into the cake for about 10 years.”
FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2017
…Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2017
“FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” Trump tweeted. “The phony Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?”
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