NEW YORK (AP) - Hillary Clinton said she is “deeply concerned” about allegations of Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election and says there needs to be an independent, nonpartisan investigation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Speaking Thursday in New York at a summit on women’s issues, Clinton said Russian involvement was meant to sow “distrust and confusion.”
“I think what was done to us was an act of aggression and it was carried out by a foreign power under the control of someone who has a deep desire to dominate Europe and send us into a tailspin,” she said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Clinton called on Congress to put party squabbles aside and look into it. Otherwise, she said, “They will be back.”
Her appearance at the Women in the World Summit is the latest in a string of public appearances for Clinton in the past few weeks.
In a one-on-one conversation with columnist and author Nicholas Kristof, Clinton touched on a range of issues, including lessons learned in the election, the war in Syria and her own future plans, which include the book she’s currently writing.
Clinton said the book would examine what happened in the election, and the various factors that went into the end result, from her own actions to outside events like FBI Director James Comey’s decision just days before the election to reopen and then once again close an investigation into her emails.
She said misogyny played a role in the election’s outcome, and encouraged women determined to run for office to grow a thick skin, and to take criticism seriously, but not personally.
“I want you to be involved, I’m thrilled by all the activity that’s going on,” she said.
When asked about the first 100 days of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, Clinton said she didn’t “take any pleasure in seeing the kind of chaotic functioning” going on and the “public growing pains,” and that she didn’t “understand the commitment to hurt so many people that this administration, this White House, seems to be pursuing.”
She cited the president’s proposed travel restrictions on people from certain countries and the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
While stating at the beginning of her remarks that she was concerned about what was going on in the country, she acknowledged a slightly different reaction while watching the attempt to repeal the health care bill flounder.
“I don’t know that any of them had ever even read the bill, read the law, understood how it worked,” she said. As they saw how complicated it was, she added, “I do admit, that was gratifying,” earning a laugh and applause from the crowd.
When asked if her future plans would include running for office again, Clinton demurred. She said she was looking for interesting things to do, and included on the list supporting young people hoping to get into political office and help Democrats take back control of Congress.
“I don’t think that will ever include running for office again,” she said.
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This story has been corrected to show the spelling is Nicholas Kristof, not Kristoff.
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