Hillary: Comey Letter ‘Hurt Me’ Among Women – It Allowed Husbands to Tell Wives ‘She’s Going to be in Jail’

During an interview with Vox on Tuesday, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton argued that without FBI Director James Comey, she could have picked up a point or two more among white women and that Comey allowed husbands and boyfriends to tell their wives and girlfriends that Clinton would end up in jail.

Clinton began by saying that white voters have been leaving the Democratic Party since Lyndon Johnson predicted they would. She added that gender isn’t “the motivating factor that race was for President Obama.”

Clinton then cited research that Sheryl Sandberg discussed with her about women become less likeable the more professionally successful they become and women being seen unfavorably when they advocate for themselves.

She then stated, “Now, I believe, absent Comey, I might have picked up 1 or 2 points among white women.” Clinton then cited her polling in the Philadelphia suburbs before the Comey letter compared to how she did in the election in those suburbs. She continued, “It stopped my momentum. And it hurt me, particularly among women. And I have so much anecdotal evidence for this. And now, researchers are starting to pull some of this together. You know, all of a sudden, the husband turns to the wife, ‘Pshh, I told you she’s going to be in jail. You don’t want to waste your vote.’ You know, the boyfriend turns to the girlfriend and says, ‘She’s going to get locked up. Don’t you hear? She’s going to get locked up.’ I mean, all of a sudden, it becomes a very fraught, kind of conflictual experience. And so, instead of saying, ‘I’m taking a chance. I’m going to vote,’ it didn’t work.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett