2016 Clinton suggests Russia working to elect Trump During her first press conference in 275 days, she expresses concern about the intervention of Vladimir Putin's government in the election.

HAMPTON, Ill. — Hillary Clinton on Monday expressed “a very serious” concern about Russia’s apparent tampering with the U.S. election, implying that President Vladimir Putin and the “adversarial foreign power” he governs are actively trying to elect Donald Trump.

“I’m really concerned about the credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections,” Clinton told reporters aboard the maiden voyage of her Boeing 737 “Stronger Together” campaign plane, which the Democratic nominee will share with her press corps for the final two months of the campaign.


“The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this, and taking it seriously,” she said, “raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process.”

After more than a month in which she spent most of her time out of sight raising money from mega donors and celebrities in wealthy enclaves from Los Angeles to the Hamptons, Clinton’s aggressive stance toward Russia was part of a roaring back to the campaign trail on Labor Day.

She wasn’t alone: The Trump plane, as well as the Mike Pence plane, were already hogging the tarmac in Cleveland when Clinton’s scion blue Boeing, with the “H” logo emblazoned on its wing tips and tail, landed.

Headlining two rallies in two states — and campaigning through a hacking cough she said was brought on by her seasonal allergies — Clinton also attempted a reset with the press. She took more than 20 minutes of questions from reporters aboard her plane, ending a 275-day standoff during which she refused to hold a news conference.

As she flew from Cleveland to the Iowa-Illinois border area for an annual “Salute to Labor” picnic, Clinton told about 40 journalists who traveled with her that it was unprecedented that a “foreign adversarial power” would be involved in the electoral process — or in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee that was revealed in July.

“We’ve never had the nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more,” she said. In July, Trump encouraging Russia to find and release the deleted emails from the private server Clinton maintained during her tenure at the State Department.

When pressed about whether she believed the Russians were actively trying to elect Trump to the Oval Office, Clinton took a long pause before responding. “I think it’s quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee,” she said.

She added: “I often quote a great saying that I learned from living in Arkansas for many years: If you find a turtle on a fence post, it didn’t get there by itself.”

Clinton’s comments about a hacking scandal that threatened to disrupt the Democratic National Convention in July — and led to the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz — served as a reminder of just how long it has been since she weighed in on the day-to-day conversation of the campaign.

On the plane and off, Clinton seemed to be making up for lost time.

At a rally in an African-American neighborhood in the East Side of Cleveland, Clinton weighed in for the first time about Trump’s trip to Mexico last week, during which he met with President Enrique Peña Nieto. She called it “an embarrassing international incident,” after the two could not agree on whether they had discussed Mexico paying for a border wall.

Clinton also noted that Trump “even got into a Twitter war with the president of Mexico” and then followed up the visit by delivering “his most hate-filled, hard-line speech yet” about immigration. “He can’t even go to a foreign country without getting into a public feud with the president,” she said. Until Monday, the campaign’s only reaction to Trump’s Mexican imbroglio had come in a statement from her campaign chairman.

Aboard the plane, Clinton said she was “quite taken aback” by the revelation that Trump’s foundation made a political contribution to the Florida attorney general, who abruptly ended a planned investigation into Trump University. “There’s so many things that are questionable about that,” she said. The Washington Post reported last week that Trump paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS for the campaign donation, which violated tax laws.

She was less enthused when pressed about the conflict of interest issues plaguing her family’s own foundation. She refused to say whether Chelsea Clinton should continue to have a role on the board if she is elected president.

But from the morning takeoff in Westchester, New York, near her Chappaqua home, until the evening in the Quad Cities area, Clinton seemed to understand the necessity of turning a new page with the frustrated press corps that covers her.

“I was just waiting for this moment,” Clinton joked as she walked to the back of the plane, positioning herself in the doorway separating the press from the Secret Service and the staff sections of the plane. “I’m thrilled,” she said. “No, really! I wanted to welcome you onto the plane. I think it’s pretty cool, don’t you?”

Unaccustomed to casual interactions with the Democratic nominee, the reporters paused before responding. “You’re supposed to say yes,” she said.

Clinton’s long-awaited news conference was at one point interrupted by an uncontrollable bout of coughing. But she stayed on board to finish answering questions after the plane landed in Illinois.

Clinton, who has been criticized for making the election a referendum on Trump rather than offering a positive vision of her own campaign, at both stops touted her new campaign book “Stronger Together,” which was to be published Tuesday and lay out all of her policy proposals for the country’s future.

And the press-wary candidate seemed pleased that an added bonus to finally breaking her silence with the traveling press corp was that she was the one to bait her opponent into doing the same.

“I heard now that we’ve got this great plane, that Donald Trump actually invited his press on his plane, where I’m told he even answered a few questions,” Clinton said. “So, following my lead as he did, I would hope he continues and releases his tax returns. That would be the best way to demonstrate his commitment to the level of disclosure expected of someone running for president.”

Clinton was scheduled to fly to Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, hitting up another crucial battleground state.

“I hope you guys are ready,” she said of the final campaign push. “I’m more than ready.”

