Hillary Clinton confessed on Sunday that she cried when Donald Trump was convicted of falsifying business documents to conceal an alleged extramarital affair before the 2016 presidential election, which she lost.
During a lengthy interview , Clinton stated that the issue involved election involvement. “Looks like karma to me,” she continued, referring to how Trump harassed her throughout the election with yells of “lock her up” only to become a convicted criminal while seeking a return to the White House.
Clinton appeared on the news programme to promote her memoir, Something Lost, Something Gained, which is set to be released Tuesday. CBS recorded and aired her remarks before officials said US secret service agents fired at a person who pointed a rifle’s muzzle into Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, during an apparent assassination attempt while the former president was playing a round there on Sunday afternoon.
In her book and in an interview with correspondent Erin Moriarty, Clinton acknowledged how she has wished but struggled to “move on” from her electoral defeat to Trump in 2016, especially as her Republican rival prepares to face a Democratic woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the November presidential race.
The former first lady singled out Trump’s conviction in New York, the state she formerly represented as a US senator, as a particularly bittersweet moment in the aftermath of her failed presidential campaign.
She suggested it was gratifying to see a guilty verdict delivered against the man who insulted her as “Crooked Hillary” and lustily chanted with his supporters to “lock her up” over her use of a private email server as secretary of state because he had falsified business records to cover up payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
However, Clinton also stated that the case served as a sharp reminder of how close she came to becoming the first woman president of the United States. That is because the concealed payments were made to Daniels during the 2016 election, after she claimed to have had extramarital sex with Trump nearly a decade prior.
“I got tears in my eyes then,” Clinton added. “The case that was mistakenly referred to as a ‘hush-money’ case was actually an election interference case.”
“Why did he do it? He did it to withhold the knowledge from the American people so they wouldn’t abandon him and vote for me. So it’s an obvious case of electoral tampering.”
Trump faces sentence on 34 felony counts in that case, as well as other criminal accusations stemming from his retention of confidential government papers and efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. Moriarty questioned Clinton if she felt positive about the fact that Trump “is the person who’s actually facing time in jail”.
“Looks like karma to me,” Clinton added.
In other parts of her interview, Clinton stated that watching Harris confront Trump on September 10 reminded her of how difficult it was to maintain composure during verbal exchanges with him. She also described writing and delivering a speech supporting Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August as “difficult” but “emotional” and fulfilling, as voters refused Clinton.
Clinton also discussed her husband Bill Clinton’s adulterous sexual escapades during his political career and presidency. She giggled uncomfortably as she continued, “Oh, you know there was” a point when she wasn’t sure if her marriage would last. However, she stated that the pair sought counselling and, despite “it being really hard,” they were now planning to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary together.
“One day, I’d wake up and declare, ‘OK, no, I’m finished.’ Another day, I’d wake up and say, “I need to keep trying to see things through and figure out what it is I want.
“Is it worthwhile?” Is this something I’d like to invest in? And when I asked all of those questions, the replies were yes, yes, and yes.”
The FBI said a suspect was arrested following Sunday’s shooting at Trump’s golf club.
No injuries were recorded in the second attempt on Trump’s life since 13 July, when a rifle-wielding attacker fired on a political gathering, striking the tip of the former president’s ear. Before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, the attacker murdered one spectator and wounded two more.
Prominent Democrats, including Harris and US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, condemned the violence Sunday. “The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Schumer told reporters.