Hillary Clinton acknowledged she had tears in her eyes on Sunday when Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to prevent allegations of an extramarital affair from becoming public before he lost the 2016 presidential election.
“This was election interference,” Clinton said in a lengthy interview on CBS News’ “Sunday Morning.” “It seems like retribution to me,” she added, noting that Trump had provoked her throughout the campaign with chants of “put her in jail” and that he had become a convicted felon while seeking a return to the White House.
Clinton’s appearance on the news show was primarily to promote her memoir, “Something Lost, Something Gained,” due for release on Tuesday. CBS aired a recorded version of her remarks before authorities said Secret Service agents had fired shots at a man pointing a rifle at the former president’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon in an apparent assassination attempt.
In Clinton’s book and in an interview with correspondent Erin Moriarty, the former US Secretary of State acknowledged that she wanted to “bounce back” from her loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election but struggled to do so, especially as her Republican rival prepares to face off again against Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
The former first lady cited Trump’s conviction in New York state, a state she represented as a senator, as a particularly bittersweet moment after her own ill-fated presidential election.
She suggested she was pleased that the man who had derided her as “Villain Hillary” and joined supporters in chanting “Send her to jail” for her use of a private email server as Secretary of State was convicted of falsifying business records to hide payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.
But Clinton also said the incident was a reminder of how close she came to becoming the first female U.S. president because of the concealed payments made to Daniels during the 2016 election after she alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump nearly a decade ago.
“That’s when tears came to my eyes,” Clinton said. “This case, which was mistakenly called a ‘hush money’ case, was an election interference case.
“Why would he do that? He was trying to hide information so that the American people would turn their backs on him and not vote for me. So this is clearly election interference.”
Trump is awaiting sentencing on 34 felony charges in the case, while also dealing with other criminal charges related to his possession of classified documents and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Moriarty asked Clinton if she was at least partially positive about the fact that Trump is “someone who is actually going to go to prison.”
“It seems like karma to me,” Clinton said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Clinton said watching Harris debate Trump on Sept. 10 reminded her of how difficult it was to keep her cool during a verbal exchange with Trump. She also said it was “difficult” but “emotional” and rewarding to write and deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention in August endorsing Harris for pursuing what voters rejected for Clinton.
Clinton also spoke about her husband Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs during his political career, including his presidency. “Yes, there was a time when I wasn’t sure if my marriage would last,” she said with a nervous laugh. But she said the couple had gone through counseling and, although it had been “really tough,” they were now preparing to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary together.
“Some days I wake up and say, ‘Okay, I’m done.’ Other days I wake up and say, ‘…I’ve got to see this through and keep figuring out what I want.’”
“Is it worth it? Is it something I want to invest in? When I considered all those questions, the answer was yes, yes, yes.”
The FBI said authorities have arrested a suspect following a shooting Sunday at President Trump’s golf club.
It was the second assassination attempt on President Trump since a man with a rifle shot the former president in the ear at a political rally on July 13, but no injuries were reported. The gunman killed one spectator and wounded two others before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
Ranking Democrats, including Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, condemned the violence on Sunday. “Those who perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Schumer said.
