Bill Clinton and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cast their ballots for the Electoral College for Hillary Clinton in the Senate chambers of the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. on Dec. 19. | AP Photo Bill Clinton: Hillary 'couldn't prevail' against FBI and Russia hacking

Hillary Clinton “fought through everything, and she prevailed against it all” during her failed White House bid against President-elect Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton said Monday. But she couldn’t endure the combination of the FBI’s interference and Russian meddling, the 42nd president conceded.

Bill Clinton was joined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday in the Senate chambers of the Albany Capitol, where they and the remainder of the 26 Electoral College voters from New York officially cast ballots for Hillary Clinton.


“I’ve never cast a vote I was prouder of,” Clinton told reporters outside the Statehouse.

Clinton said he watched his wife fight through the email saga that had dogged her campaign even before its official inception. Her use of a private email server as secretary of state and the release of thousands of her emails and additional information from investigations were the subject of much of her campaign, forming the basis of the rallying cry “lock her up!” from Trump supporters at his rallies.

She prevailed through that, Bill Clinton said, but she couldn't overcome Russian hacking and the letter that FBI Director James Comey sent to Congress less than two weeks before Election Day (Comey sent another letter two days before the election informing members of Congress that the FBI uncovered nothing new and that its prior recommendation against charges remained the same).

“You know, I’ve watched her work for two years,” Clinton said. “I watched her battle through that bogus email deal and be vindicated at the end when Secretary [Colin] Powell came out. She fought through that. She fought through everything, and she prevailed against it all. But, you know, then at the end, we had the Russians and the FBI deal. But she couldn’t prevail against that. She did everything else and still won by 2.8 million votes.”

Indeed, Hillary Clinton’s popular vote lead has neared 3 million. But it’s Trump who will likely be officially elected president once the 538 electors across the country cast their ballots.

Despite the consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the presidential election — including the hack and subsequent leaks of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails from his personal account — Trump has repeatedly rejected that conclusion.

He has also pushed back against a reported CIA assessment that Russia interfered with the aim of helping boost Trump into the White House.

Regarding Russia's meddling, Bill Clinton had told a reporter from a weekly newspaper in New York that “you would need to have a single-digit IQ not to recognize what was going on,” and he insisted that Comey “cost her the election.”

Asked Monday what cost the former secretary of state the White House, Bill Clinton was less explicit, telling reporters “that’s up the experts.”

“The finest vote-counter in America is Nate Silver,” he added. “He told you what cost her the election.”

The aforementioned polling guru tweeted Dec. 11: “Clinton would almost certainly be President-elect if the election had been held on Oct. 27 (day before Comey letter).”

