Hillary Clinton tells donors Russia hacks, James Comey letter had hand in election defeat

Hillary Clinton blamed her loss to Donald Trump on two "unprecedented" factors: the FBI's letter about her emails released 11 days before the election, as well as cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and her own campaign chairman that the U.S. intelligence community says Russia is behind, the New York Times reported.

Clinton made the comments during a meeting with some of her top donors Thursday night, one of her few public appearances since losing the election Nov. 8.

This isn't the first time Clinton has blamed FBI Director James Comey's letter for her loss, but her comments about Russia's role were "particularly pointed," according to the Times.

The newspaper reported that Clinton, who had been sounding alarm bells about the Russians' role in the cyberattacks throughout the election, called Russian President Vladimir Putin out by name.

"Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election," Clinton said Thursday night, according to the Times report. 

She added that "the press is finally catching up to the facts," but said reporters did not take her campaign's warning about the severity of Russia's involvement seriously enough.

"This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it," Clinton added, according to the New York Times. "This is an attack against our country. We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation."