Hillary Clinton, whose ties to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein have been criticized after allegations of sexual impropriety surfaced last year, believes her presidential election defeat in 2016 helped accelerate the #MeToo movement.
In 2017, a flood of women came forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment or misconduct. Their actions triggered the #MeToo movement, which led to dozens of similar accusations against other prominent male figures in media, business, politics and entertainment.
Clinton's comments were captured on video Tuesday at The Wing, a Manhattan women's-only club, according to published reports. Since the 2016 race, Clinton has continued to explain and justify her election loss. She also wrote a book about it called "What Happened."
During the event, someone asked her: "In an alternative reality, if you were president today in 2018, do you think the #MeToo movement would’ve still happened?"
Clinton responded: "I believe that it was a wave that was building and building and building. I think my losing probably accelerated that wave, but the wave was coming."
&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theamericanmirror.com%2Fbitter-hillary-fantasizes-about-alternative-reality-where-shes-president%2FDays after her loss in 2016, Clinton met with Weinstein at Rao's restaurant in Harlem, the New York Times reported. The two were planning a TV documentary about her campaign before sexual misconduct allegations were raised against Weinstein, according to the Times.
Weinstein also has a long-standing relationship with the Clintons. When Bill Clinton faced impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Weinstein donated $10,000 to his legal fund, the Daily Mail reported. Additionally, Weinstein was a significant fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
During her talk on Tuesday, Clinton discussed a range of topics and she also took a few jabs at President Donald Trump.
"When you've been accused of everything like I have and you realize people actually believe it, it's really depressing," Clinton reportedly said.
"I don't want anyone to go through that. To be lied about and vilified is damaging to our body politic," Clinton said, referring to Trump repeatedly saying "lock her up."
"Trump still yells 'lock her up,'" Clinton said. "Does he think I’m president? Someone also needs to tell Fox News they can’t impeach me, it doesn't work that way with a private citizen.'
Clinton told the crowd she couldn't let the loss become "paralyzing," even though watching Trump be president is "very hard."
Clinton also said she believes things will continue to get worse with Trump in office.
She went on to tell the crowd to vote in the midterms, saying "I don't think we've seen the bottom yet."
'You can march from now until doomsday, but if you don’t elect people who agree with you nothing will change,' she said.
A long line of women reporetedly formed around the block to hear Clinton speak at the social club. Clinton arrived wearing a cast on the wrist she broke while in India promoting her book. The former secretary of state reportedly fell in a hotel bathtub.
