(Newser) – It appears Hillary Clinton blames Sen. Bernie Sanders, at least partly, for her surprising loss to President Trump in the 2016 election. "His attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign,'" CNN quotes a leaked excerpt from Clinton's upcoming book, What Happened. Excerpts from the book, which is set to be released Sept. 12, were posted online by a pro-Clinton Twitter account and by a user on a Clinton-affiliated Facebook page. CNN states the excerpts on Sanders are "remarkably candid" for Clinton.

Clinton blames Sanders for resorting "to innuendo and impugning my character" in the face of their policy similarities and says his "Bernie Bros" harassed her supporters: "It got ugly and more than a little sexist." Vox reports Clinton also takes issue with what she says were unrealistic policies from Sanders—essentially promising everyone in America a pony. "His plans didn't add up," the Hill quotes Clinton as saying in the excerpts. She says some of his policies "were little more than a pipe-dream." Clinton says she wanted to hit back at Sanders during the primary but was warned against it. She says Obama told her to "grit my teeth and lay off Bernie as much as I could." Experts worry Clinton putting blame on Sanders could deepen the current rifts in the Democratic party. (Read more Hillary Clinton stories.)

