Hillary Clinton giving her concession speech at New Yorker Hotel
An emotional Hillary Clinton finally publicly conceded the presidential election just before midday on Wednesday – telling the nation: ‘Donald Trump is going to be our president.’
Flanked by her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, she spoke in a New York hotel to cheering supporters who rose to their feet as she entered the room.
In the final act of a political career which took her to the verge of being the first female president, she said that now it was Trump’s time.
‘Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,’ she said.
‘I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans.’
She went on: ‘Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country.
‘This is not the outcome that we wanted or worked so hard for. But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together.
She added: ‘This is painful and it will be for a long time.’
Clinton, 69, performed her last act as a presidential candidate on Wednesday morning – a concession speech delivered from a hastily set up stage at a hotel several blocks away from spot she had planned to celebrate with her supporters the evening before.
‘Thank you,’ Clinton began, clearing her throat several times as her supporters clapped and cheered.
Staff members were in tears as Clinton addressed them.
The crowd at the downmarket New Yorker hotel’s ballroom had first risen to their feet when her running mate, Tim Kaine, admitted defeat but said: ‘She won the popular vote.’
His voice trembling with emotion, he said she was ‘a great history-maker’ as he listed her achievements ‘as a woman’.
Kaine, in his remarks, praised the unwavering loyalty of Clinton’s staff, though Clinton has also been faulting for sticking to a close circle of advisers who didn’t see what was coming.
After saluting Trump, Clinton spoke of the ‘peaceful transfer of power’ enshrined in the Constitution.
It may have been a reminder that Trump during the final presidential debate refused to say that he would accept the outcome of the election. Running mate Tim Kaine pointed out beforehand that Clinton had one the popular vote, which she appeared on track to do, just as Al Gore had done in 2000.
-DailymailÂ