Interviewed by Jane Pauley for CBS’ Sunday Morning, Hillary Clinton admitted that she was so confident of victory in the 2016 election that she bought a second home next door to her estate in Chappaqua, New York to accommodate White House staff during her expected presidential retreats.
According to the New York Post, the Clintons paid $1.16 million for the three-bedroom, ranch-style home. The Post had reported in September 2016 that the house was supposed to be a weekend retreat for Chelsea Clinton’s family.
Clinton told Pauley, “You know, after the first of the year, I had a big decision to make: was I going to go to the inauguration?”
Pauley said respectfully, “Defeated candidates don’t necessarily show up. But you’re a former First Lady.”
Clinton nodded, “But I’m a former First Lady, and former presidents and former First Ladies show up. It’s part of the demonstration of the continuity of our government. And so there I was, on the platform, y’know, feeling like an out-of-body experience, and then, his speech, which was a cry from the white nationalist gut.”
The screen showed a clip of President Trump’s inaugural speech in which he stated, “This American carnage stops right here.”
Clinton, the same woman who referred to some of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables,” pontificated, “What an opportunity to say, ‘Okay, I’m proud of all my supporters, but I’m the president of all Americans.’ That’s not what we heard at all.”
Pauley’s voiceover continued: “Clinton had been so sure she’d be the one giving that inaugural speech.”
As the two women walked around the home Clinton had bought for her staff, Pauley commented, “You specifically bought this house for a reason.”
Clinton answered, “I did.”
Pauley prompted, “And this was to be?”
Clinton, “Well, I know a lot about what it takes to move a president, and I thought I was going to win …”
Pauley’s voiceover continued, “”The Clintons had acquired the house next door to accommodate White House staff and security during a second Clinton administration.”
Pauley turned to Clinton, asking, “And doesn’t it kind of haunt you?”
Clinton: “No. I’m very happy we did it.”
Pauley’s voiceover concluded over a shot of a dining room table in the supposed staff’s house, “At a dining room table in that house, she wrote about what happened,” as the screen showed a picture of Clinton’s new book, What Happened. Clinton’s voiceover concluded with a quote from the book: “I couldn’t get the job done, and I’ll have to live with that the rest of my life.”
Video below: