Hillary Clinton believes that Vladimir Putin was allegedly involved in the hack of the Democratic National Committee because of a longtime grudge he has held against her.

The former presidential nominee made the claims at a party meant to thank her millionaire donors in New York Thursday night, according to two donors who were there. They said that Clinton blamed the grudge on comments she made that were critical of Russia’s parliamentary elections in 2011, which she said were not free or fair.

Clinton told guests at her party that she was proud, as secretary of state, to have defended democracy when confronted by Putin. (RELATED: Hillary Clinton Is Throwing A Party To Thank Her Millionaire Donors)

“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. “Make no mistake, as the press is finally catching up to the facts, which we desperately tried to present to them during the last months of the campaign.”

“This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it. 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.”

Another donor who was there told CNN that Clinton said she believed the hacking was an “attack on our national security and an attack on our democracy.”

Guests were seen sobbing while Clinton spoke at the event, the donors added.

Tim Kaine and Andrew Cuomo were in attendance. (RELATED: Clinton Donors Infuriated They Didn’t Make The Cut For Thank-You Party)