Hillary Clinton has claimed she defeated Donald Trump in last year's presidential election.

Clinton, who received almost three million more votes than her reality television host opponent, was denied the presidency because she lost the electoral college count 304 to 227.

But the 69-year-old made the claim in a New York Magazine piece in which she discussed everything from sexism and voter suppression to James Comey costing her the White House, the country 'stalling' under Trump, and Russia's 'attack' on American democracy.

Clinton started by dismissing the notion the election was won because of anger, which both Trump and Bernie Sanders, her opponent in the Democratic primary, tapped into.

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Hillary Clinton has claimed she defeated Donald Trump in last year's presidential election

'I beat both of them,' Clinton said, after saying anger is not 'a good strategy for most people'.

'You can't be angry for yourself. You just can't. You can be indignant, you can be annoyed, you can be frustrated, but you can't be angry… I don't think anger's a strategy,' she told the magazine.

The former Secretary of State then turned her attention to Comey's ousting from the FBI by Trump.

'I am less surprised than I am worried,' she said.

'Not that he shouldn't have been disciplined. And certainly the Trump campaign relished everything that was done to me in July and then particularly in October.

'Having said that, I think what's going on now is an effort to derail and bury the Russia inquiry, and I think that's terrible for our country.'

Clinton received almost 2.9 million more votes than Trump, but was denied the presidency because she lost the electoral college count 304 to 227

'I beat both of them,' Clinton (pictured on November 9) said in reference to Trump and Bernie Sanders

Clinton then said the response from elected officials in Washington to Russia's efforts to impact the election and sway it in Trump's favor will be remembered for a long time.

'(History) will judge whoever's in Congress now as to how they respond to what was an attack on our country,' she told New York Magazine.

'It wasn't the kind of horrible, physical attack we saw on 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, but it was an attack by an aggressive adversary who had been probing for many years to figure out how to undermine our democracy, influence our politics, even our elections.

'Left unchecked… this will not just bite Democrats, or me; this will undermine our electoral system.'

The 69-year-old also described to the magazine how she knew on November 8 the race with Trump was close, but she thought she would 'gut it out' and win.

'I was as surprised as anybody when I started getting returns, she said.

'Because that’s not what anybody - with a couple of outliers - saw in the data. And the feel was good!

'We had good crowds, we had lots of energy and enthusiasm, and I thought we were going to pull it off.

'I am less surprised than I am worried,' Clinton said about Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey

'I think what's going on now is an effort to derail and bury the Russia inquiry, and I think that's terrible for our country,' Clinton (pictured in November 2015) said of Trump's decision to sack Comey

'And so did the other side, by the way. They did not believe they were going to win.'

When the issue of sexism was brought up by the magazine, Clinton explained how she hoped 'the rawness of being a woman competing for the presidency would have dissipated' would have gone away since she was defeated by President Obama eight years earlier.

But she found that while it had 'somewhat diminished', there was 'a lot of implicit bias was just raging below the surface'.

'There were still very deep, raw feelings about gender that had not been resolved,' she said.

'There is a stark difference between men and women when it comes to success and likability.

'So the more successful a man is, the more likable he is. The more successful a woman is, the less likable she is. And it’s across every sector of society.'

Clinton was then asked about those in the wake of her defeat who were attempting to pin the blame for the loss entirely on her.

'There’s always, what’s that word… Schadenfreude - "cut her down to size", "too big for her own britches" - I get all that,' she said.

'I take responsibility, I admit that I'm not a perfect candidate - and don’t know anybody who was - but at the end of the day we did a lot of things right and we weathered enormous headwinds and we were on our way to winning.

'So that is never going to satisfy my detractors. And you know, that’s their problem.'