Clinton apologised to Obama on election night

WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton apologised to the then President Barack Obama shortly after conceding defeat to Donald Trump on election night, according to a new book.

“Mr President, I’m sorry,” Clinton told Obama over phone as her unexpected election loss became a reality, according to a Washington Post review of the book ‘Shattered’ which is about the Democratic presidential candidate’s failed 2016 campaign. The book ‘Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign’ reveals how in a flurry of calls the White House urged Clinton to concede defeat. “You’re going to come up short,” Steve Schale, the best vote-counter the Democrats had in Florida, told campaign officials.

The call with Schale marked the beginning of a riveting account of the final, dreadful hours of Clinton’s long pursuit of the presidency, as told by reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes in their insidery new book.

Shortly after 11:00 PM on election night, after Wisconsin was called by Fox News, Allen and Parnes report that the campaign fielded a series of calls from the White House pushing Clinton to concede, even though the margins in many states were extraordinarily close. President Obama thought it was over and did not want a messy recount. First came a call from White House political director David Simas to Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook.

“POTUS (President of the United States) doesn’t think it’s wise to drag this out,” Simas was quoted as saying. But as Clinton was dragging it out, she got a call from Obama. “You need to concede,” urged Obama, who repeated the message in a follow-up call to Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, according to the book. At last, Clinton said, “Give me the phone.” And then the first woman who was going to be president got her opponent on the line and said two words she never expected to say, “Congratulations, Donald.” Moments later, Obama was back on the phone, this time making a consolation call. ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Donald Trump in May, the Turkish foreign minister said on Wednesday, after the US president congratulated the Turkish leader for winning a referendum on enhancing his powers.

“We will determine a date for the two presidents to meet in May before the NATO summit as previously confirmed by the leaders,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

The NATO summit is scheduled to be held in late May in Brussels and Trump is due to attend. Cavusoglu did not specify if the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the summit or at another venue. After Erdogan’s narrow win in Sunday’s referendum on creating an executive presidency, Trump congratulated the Turkish leader in a phone call on Monday, in contrast to the muted reaction of European leaders to the result, which has been challenged by the opposition.

Cavusoglu said that during their call the two leaders had expressed a common desire to meet in Washington “to improve bilateral relations”.

Turkey hopes ties with the Trump administration will improve after relations soured between the NATO allies during Barack Obama’s term over Syria and Turkey’s calls for Us-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen to be extradited. Gulen is accused of ordering last July’s failed coup and Ankara has repeatedly called for his extradition. The preacher vehemently denies Turkey’s accusations. Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Turkish leaders.