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Hillary Clinton refuses to rule out challenging legitimacy of Trump's election win

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signs copies of her new book 'What Happened' during a signing event at Barnes and Noble bookstore in New York City on 12 September 2017: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signs copies of her new book 'What Happened' during a signing event at Barnes and Noble bookstore in New York City on 12 September 2017: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton has said that she “would not” rule out questioning the legitimacy of the 2016 US election over the investigation into Russian interference.

The former Secretary of State told National Public Radio she would dispute Donald Trump’s win if it turns out that allegations of Russia hacking were more insidious than the country originally thought.

She said: “Look, if I lost to another Republican I would be disappointed. I would not agree with a lot of their approach toward economics and other important issues, but I wouldn't fear for my country.”

Her comments on the “Fresh Air” programme come at a time when there are parallel investigations being run by Congress, and the FBI under Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, into alleged ties between the Trump campaign team and Russian officials and whether Russian interference in the election was done to benefit Mr Trump.

However, this is not to say Ms Clinton’s would officially call a challenge.

Ms Clinton said she would “raise questions,” but “I don't know if there's any legal constitutional way to” challenge the results.

She won the popular vote by nearly three million ballots but Mr Trump won the electoral college, putting him in office.

Ms Clinton’s new book What Happened is an illustration of her frustration with the events surrounding the election regarding Russia.

She claimed that Mr Trump “knew [Russians] were trying to do whatever they could to discredit me with emails, so there's obviously a trail there”.

Mr Mueller, for his part, is also said to be investigating whether FBI Director James Comey was sacked by Mr Trump in order to potentially obstruct the FBI’s investigation into the matter.

Ms Clinton also said that had she won the election by electoral college vote, she would have appointed an independent commission dedicated to investigating the matter rather than publicly questioning the American intelligence community the way Mr Trump has done.

“In my first day as president [if] the intelligence community came to me and said, ‘The Russians influenced the election,’ I would've never stood for it.”