The former Democratic candidate tweeted a clip from a 2016 presidential debate in which she called her Republican bête noire, Donald Trump, the “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
READ MORE: Hillary Clinton Weighs In as Government Shutdown Drags On
During the 19 October 2016 debate, Trump claimed that Putin “has no respect” for Clinton, while the former secretary of state hit back by saying “Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States”.
Like I said: A puppet. https://t.co/BeBfYMJcic
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) 14 January 2019
As Trump quickly interrupted her, striking back with a “no puppet” line, calling Clinton the puppet instead, the Democratic nominee went on with her verbal assault:
“It’s pretty clear you won’t admit the Russians have engaged in cyber attacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do and that you continue to get help from him because he has a very clear favourite in this race”, Clinton said.
Social media users have been divided over the “told you so” remark, with some ridiculing her words and suggesting that she just can’t get over her loss to Trump:
Facts please @HillaryClinton and evidence. Not the fake dossier you and the @DNC paid for.
— ottimo (@2partinvention) 14 January 2019
Good Lord is she still crying
— George Scott (@scott_georg) 14 January 2019
'Petty Woman'.
— Tom C. Purcell (@RealTomCPurcell) 14 January 2019
Like I said. She's not President.🤣🤣🤣🤣
— MegMurph (@AllIn4DJT) 15 January 2019
I hated how Trump, as Secretary of State, gave Russia 20% of our uranium for a $13 million bribe. Oh wait. That was Hillary.
— Filthy McNasty (@SidRamone1) 15 January 2019
Crooked Hillary needs to press that "reset" button again. Except, this time, in reverse. Maybe memory is her problem now.
— Curt West (@CurtWest3) 14 January 2019
Many others, however, stood by her side:
You did warn us.
— andy lassner (@andylassner) 14 January 2019
Over and over and over again.
You are absolutely right, and I was so wrong about you.
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) 14 January 2019
I knew you were right and I knew you were telling the truth. Only if the media weren’t focused on those damn Emails. The media failed us all.
— Nana_49 (@msleen1970) 14 January 2019
Tweet of the year. 🏆
— Ryan Knight 🇺🇸 (@ProudResister) 15 January 2019
Clinton’s tweet follows a Friday article by The New York Times suggesting that the FBI opened a probe in 2017 into whether Trump had been covertly working on behalf of Russia.
READ MORE: Hillary Clinton Ridiculed Online After Calling 2018 a 'Dark Time'
The NYT’s piece, in turn, was published a day after The Washington Post reported that Trump had “gone to extraordinary lengths” to conceal details of his personal interactions with the Russian president.
Trump also said that he wasn’t “keeping anything under wraps” and that he would be happy to share the details of his encounter with Putin.
In her book “What Happened”, Clinton has drawn up a list of reasons for her loss in the 2016 vote, including the alleged Russian meddling, as well as former FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress informing that he had resumed the investigation into her mishandling of sensitive material on her private email server while she served as secretary of state.
READ MORE: Trump Refutes Reports About Hiding Details of Talks With Putin
The Trump administration has flatly denied any collusion with the Kremlin during the election campaign, with POTUS himself denouncing the allegations as a “witch hunt”. Moscow has also dismissed accusations of its interference in the 2016 vote as “baseless”, emphasising that no evidence has been provided to substantiate the claims.
