Hillary Clinton’s memoir of her defeat to Donald Trump in the 2016 election has made headlines across the globe for its candid reflections on one of the most memorable campaigns in US history.

Be it her disgust with Trump and his divisive campaign, or lingering wounds from her bruising primary with Bernie Sanders, Clinton holds little back in the 469-page What Happened.

Below are 10 notable anecdotes from Clinton’s book that shed light on everything from her humorous interactions at Trump’s inauguration to what was running through her mind as the results poured in on election night.

Attending Trump’s wedding

As Trump sought the Republican nomination for president, a photo of the real estate mogul posing with the Clintons at his 2005 wedding to Melania Trump became infamous. Trump’s Republican opponents circulated the image to underscore his past donations to Democrats and his more liberal-leaning views.

In the early pages of the book, Clinton explains the photo and her previous rapport with Trump:

“I had known Donald Trump for years, but never imagined he’d be standing on the steps of the Capitol taking the oath of office as president of the United States. He was a fixture on the New York scene when I was a Senator – like a lot of big-shot real estate guys in the city, only more flamboyant and self-promoting.

“In 2005, he invited us to his wedding to Melania in Palm Beach, Florida. We weren’t friends, so I assumed he wanted as much star power as he could get. Bill happened to be speaking in the area that weekend, so we decided to go. Why not? I thought it would be a fun, gaudy, over-the-top spectacle, and I was right. I attended the ceremony, then met Bill for the reception at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. We had our photo taken with the bride and groom and left.”

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at an event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 11 July 2016. Photograph: CJ Gunther/EPA

Bernie Sanders

Much ado has been made of Clinton’s criticism of Sanders in the book, reigniting in many ways the internal feud within the Democratic Party over its direction. In addition to insisting Sanders is “not a Democrat”, Clinton draws a contrast to her 2008 primary against Barack Obama.

“Bernie had hung on to the bitter end, drawing blood wherever he could along the way. I somewhat understood why he did it; after all, I stayed in the race for as long as I could in 2008. But that race was much closer, and I endorsed Barack right after the last primary.”

On the day she clinched the nomination, Clinton adds, “Bernie was still more than a month away from endorsing me.”

Clinton also felt hamstrung by the advice she received from all corners, including Obama, not to go after Sanders.

“My team kept reminding me that we didn’t want to alienate Bernie’s supporters. President Obama urged me to grit my teeth and lay off Bernie as much as I could. I felt like I was in a straightjacket.”

There are some kinder moments: Clinton remains “grateful” for when Sanders memorably exclaimed in their first debate: “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!”

She also appreciated that Sanders was the one to formally nominate her at the Democratic National Convention, as she had done for Obama eight years before: “The final delegate count was 2,842 for me and 1,865 for Bernie. I know it couldn’t have been easy for him to make that statement on the floor, and I appreciated it.”

Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton on 10 June 2016 at Clinton’s home in Washington. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Huma Abedin

Clinton has often likened Huma Abedin, her longtime aide and right-hand woman, to a daughter. It is for that reason, Clinton writes, that she refused to sideline Abedin in the aftermath of James Comey’s 28 October letter revealing that his agency was examining new emails potentially relevant to the previously closed investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server. The batch of emails had been discovered on a computer belonging to Abedin’s estranged husband Anthony Weiner, who was under FBI investigation for exchanging lewd messages with a teenage girl. (He pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor in May.)

Abedin “looked stricken” by the news, Clinton writes. “Anthony had already caused so much heartache. And now this.”

“This man is going to be the death of me,” Abedin said, breaking down in tears.

Clinton hugged and consoled her aide, who started out with her as a 19-year-old intern in the early 1990s.

“After more than twenty years working with Huma, I think the world of her, and seeing her in such distress broke my heart … In the days that followed, some people thought I should fire Huma or ‘distance myself.’ Not a chance. She had done nothing wrong and was an invaluable member of my team. I stuck by her the same way she has always stuck by me.”

Jason Chaffetz at a town hall meeting at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah in February 2017. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

Jason Chaffetz

Jason Chaffetz, a former Republican congressman from Utah, is best known for his relentless focus on Clinton’s handling of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, during his tenure as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

At Trump’s inauguration, Chaffetz was criticized for posting a photo of himself shaking hands with Clinton captioned: “So pleased she is not the president. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues.”

But according to Clinton, she had mistaken Chaffetz for someone else:

“I saw a man off to the side who I thought was Reince Priebus, head of the Republican National Committee and incoming White House Chief of Staff. As I passed by, we shook hands and exchanged small talk. Later I realized it hadn’t been Priebus at all.”

Calling Chaffetz a “wannabe Javert who made endless political hay out of my emails and the 2012 tragedy in Benghazi”, Clinton describes her reaction to his photo.

“What a class act! I came this close to tweeting back, ‘To be honest, thought you were Reince.’”

Ryan Zinke waves to supporters in Columbia Falls, Montana in November 2014. Photograph: Greg Lindstrom/AP

Ryan Zinke

It wasn’t just Chaffetz with whom Clinton had an awkward encounter on the day Trump was sworn in as president. At the post-inauguration lunch, she met then-Representative Ryan Zinke, who now serves as Trump administration interior secretary.

Zinke brought his wife over to say “hello”, Clinton writes. “This was somewhat surprising, considering that in 2014 he called me the ‘antichrist’.”

She couldn’t help but quip, “You know, congressman, I’m not actually the antichrist.’”

“He was taken aback and mumbled something about not having meant it,” Clinton writes. “One thing I have learned over the years is how easy it is for some people to say horrible things about me when I’m not around but how hard it is for them to look me in the eye and say it to my face.”

Julian Assange in London on 6 July 2017. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Julian Assange

In a lengthy middle section dedicated to the threat posed by Russia, Clinton takes aim at Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

It was his website that published emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee, as well as Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. Assange has rejected allegations that the emails published on Wikileaks came into its hands via the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 campaign, but Clinton disagrees.

“In my view, Assange is a hypocrite who deserves to be held accountable for his actions. He claims to be a champion of transparency, but for many years, he’s been helpful to Putin, one of the most repressive and least transparent autocrats in the world.

“It’s not just that WikiLeaks avoids publishing anything Putin won’t like and instead targets Russia’s adversaries – Assange actually hosted a television show on RT, Putin’s propaganda network, and receives adoring coverage there.”

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on 27 July 2016. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Obama said run

After she left the state department in 2013, Clinton writes, she and Obama kept in regular touch. They met a few times for lunch, eating jambalaya one summer on the terrace outside the Oval Office while dissecting the foreign policy challenges facing America.

“But gradually, as 2013 turned into 2014, our conversations turned more frequently to politics,” Clinton writes.

“President Obama knew the challenges facing Democrats. He never took his reelection for granted, and while it was a resounding win in 2012 (the legitimately resounding kind), he knew that his legacy depended to a large degree on a Democratic victory in 2016.

“He made it clear that he believed that I was our party’s best chance to hold the White House and keep our progress going, and he wanted me to move quickly to prepare to run. I knew President Obama thought the world of his vice-president, Joe Biden, and was close to some other potential candidates, so his vote of confidence meant a great deal to me.”

Hillary Clinton at the Women in the World Conference on 23 April 2015 in New York City. Photograph: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Sexism against female candidates

Clinton often revisits the role played by sexism and misogyny in her defeat, writing with the sort of freedom she seldom felt able to express on the campaign trail. She admits that past controversies, such as Whitewater, Travelgate and the email furore, played a part in the public’s perception of her. But she argues that the backlash was partly because she is a woman.

“Why am I seen as such a divisive figure and, say, Joe Biden and John Kerry aren’t? … What makes me such a lightning rod for fury? I’m really asking. I’m at a loss.

“I suspect that for many of us – more than we might think – it feels somehow off to picture a woman president sitting in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. It’s discordant to tune into a political rally and hear a woman’s voice booming (‘screaming,’ ‘screeching’) forth. Even the simple act of a woman standing up and speaking to a crowd is relatively new.”

Barrow, Alaska. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag

Universal income

Constantly pilloried for being insufficiently progressive, Clinton contemplated proposing a policy of universal income. She had drawn inspiration from a model in Alaska, under which oil revenues are used to fund an annual dividend for every man, woman, and child living in the state.

“Once you capitalize the fund, you can provide every American with a modest basic income every year,” Clinton writes while detailing the potential proposal. “Besides cash in people’s pockets, it would also be a way of making every American feel more connected to our country and to one another – part of something bigger than ourselves.

“I was fascinated by this idea, as was my husband, and we spent weeks working with our policy team to see if it could be viable enough to include in my campaign. We would call it ‘Alaska for America.’ Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the numbers work.”

The idea of a basic income is one even Sanders has yet to embrace. Clinton said it was ultimately too unrealistic, but wonders what could have been given the populist wave sweeping the country.



“We decided it was exciting but not realistic, and left it on the shelf. That was the responsible decision. I wonder now whether we should have thrown caution to the wind and embraced ‘Alaska for America’ as a long-term goal and figured out the details later.”

Clinton supporters respond as election results come in at The Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. Photograph: Ali Smith for the Guardian/Photograph by Ali Smith

Election night

Clinton had not even entertained the thought of a loss to Trump, describing herself as “shell-shocked” as the returns came in.

“I hadn’t prepared mentally for this at all,” she writes. “There had been no doomsday scenarios playing out in my head in the final days, no imagining what I might say if I lost. I just didn’t think about it.”

As Trump inched closer to victory, Clinton could barely breathe.

She wondered to herself what might happen next. Although Clinton phoned Trump to congratulate him in what she characterizes as a “perfectly nice and weirdly ordinary” call, another part of her brain registered that her opponent led chants of “lock her up” and vowed to send her to prison as she stood beside him in one of their debates.

A debate ensued in her hotel suite over what she should say in her concession speech. Her aides presented a draft that aggressively disavowed the bigotry of Trump’s campaign.

“If we believe what we’ve said for the past six months about the dangers this guy poses to our country, then you can’t act like that’s not true anymore,” Clinton writes of their argument. “People are scared and worried about what he’ll do to their families. They want to hear from you.

“A spirited discussion ensued. Eventually I asked the speechwriters to take another crack at a draft that was shorter and more gracious but not sugarcoated.”

When all was said and done, Clinton writes, it was just her and Bill.

“Bill was watching Trump’s speech on television. He couldn’t believe it. Neither could I. Eventually everyone left, and it was just us. I hadn’t cried yet, wasn’t sure if I would. But I felt deeply and throughly exhausted, like I hadn’t slept in 10 years. We lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Bill took my hand, and we just lay there.”

Additional reporting by David Smith