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From jokes about the election outcome and the inaugural crowd size to warnings about the Trump administration's growing Russia scandal, Hillary Clinton has turned her ire on President Trump. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

With Democrats still trying to figure out whos going to lead them, Hillary Clintons reemergence on the political scene is attracting a lot of attention. But while her recent appearances indicate that she can still lend a high-profile voice to Democratic causes, Clinton risksigniting a controversy that distracts from her partys message.

On Wednesday, during an eventat the Code Conference, Clinton told interviewers Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg that she believed theDemocratic National Committees failures contributed to her loss. This rankled some political operatives and caused a small Twitter furor. Over on the right, Fox Newsfired up a Clinton chyron andbrought pundits on to condemn her words.

The moment underscored for Clinton that if shes going to return to public life and help to Democrats shes going to need to choose her words and actionswisely.

Democratic operatives sayits not surprising that Clinton would reenter the fray. She has immense resources and influence after a historic election and a long career in politics. And Trump is working to enact the kind of future she ran against.

However, she remains a deeply polarizing figure and an unpopular one. A Suffolk University poll from March found that Trump had a higher favorability rating than Clinton and that her favorability has dropped since the election.

Clinton is alsoreturning at a time when political watchers wish to move on from 2016 yet continue to pore over the results, trying to figure out how to move the party forward in 2018 and 2020. Though her prominence in the Democratic Party means shes unlikely to ever fully disappear from the spotlight, she is human kindling for the combustible debates happening among Democrats right now.

One of the benefits of Clinton reentering the political conversation is that her clout could provide direction and inspiration for a riled-up liberal base.

I think that she has people that were more than distraught that she lost. Those people are trying to figure out what to do, said Scott Mulhauser, who served in the Obama administration.I think her emerging and steering some of her supporters toward causes, toward issues, toward moments where they can weigh in, helps at a moment where a lot of her supporters are looking for outlets and looking to change things in Washington.

Mark Longabaugh, who served as a media adviser on Sen. Bernie Sanderss presidential campaign, said,Pointing out the flaws in Trumps foreign policy, Trumps health-care polices, I think that's a very appropriate place for her to be.

But operatives agreed that any remarks she makes about the 2016 election why she lost, for example may do more harm than good.

I think the concern right now is theres a lot of talk of unity and theres a lot of finger-pointing from progressives who want to point out institutional issues that exist within the party, said Nomiki Konst, who served as a Sanders campaign surrogate. Its like theres this external campaign of: Were all fine. Were all coming together. Were part of the resistance together. But the reality is there are real infrastructure issues within the party that need to be addressed.

Longabaugh had similar sentiments. I would be less inclined to do an autopsy of the election in terms of Comey, the Russians, the this ones, the that ones, he said.I dont think thats very productive for the Democratic Party moving forward.

As one longtime Democratic operative noted, Clinton is often at her best and perceived the best when she isnt running for officeand when she's lending her gravitas to causes that she believes in.

But some believe she should be wary of giving the impression that any public immersion is arelaunch for the Clinton brand, which could come across as self-interested.

They say sticking to supporting the progressive resistance and lending her voice to the chorus that's mostly being led by Sanders (I-Vt.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) might be a better way for Clinton to use her natural platform to guide the party.

Clinton certainly seems aware of her platform. Im not going anywhere, shepromised at the Code Conference.

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Hillary Clinton is returning to public life. But if she wants to help Democrats, she should tread carefully. - Washington Post

But then she found herself face to face with veteran tech journalists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg at the Recode conference in California. Anxiety about social media and the spread of "fake news" was in the air. When Mossberg lamented that Democrats had fallen "way behind" Republicans on the technology front, Clinton let loose.

"I get the nomination. So I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party," Clinton said Wednesday. "I mean, it was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it."

Since reemerging in public after her defeat in November, Clinton has leveled sharp criticism at a host of targets she blames for President Donald Trump's victory, including Russia, former FBI Director James Comey and major news organizations like the New York Times.

Clinton associates say that she is unlikely to make a habit of criticizing her own party's institutions, describing her comments at the Recode interview as a one-off event -- and a unique confluence of her frustrations and a digital-savvy audience eager to hear them.

But her allies also acknowledge that Clinton's grievances about the DNC are real and also note that she had lamented well before Election Day that the Democratic Party's infrastructure did not serve her well.

Clinton has been mulling over the reasons that led to her unexpected defeat on November 8. As she has acknowledged in public, Clinton has mentally separated out those reasons into two categories: those that could have been corrected and others that were simply out of her control.

Russia's meddling in the election, the Wikileaks hacks, the coverage of her private email server and even Comey's actions fall in the latter column.

But Clinton believed during the campaign and maintains to this day that her party's data operation was utterly inadequate, hurt her candidacy and was entirely fixable.

The DNC issue has "been on her mind since before Election Day," a Clinton associate told CNN.

"These were all things that affected the election and that we can solve going forward," the associate added. "This was newsy because it was talking about a specific political organization within her party, but it wasn't out of line with the other hard truths that she's been talking about."

But overwhelmingly, Clinton is focused on Russian interference in the election along with Comey's public statements about the investigation into her private email server as chief reasons for her defeat.

She has been increasingly explicit in alleging mischief on the part of the Russians and the Trump campaign, frequently pointing her finger directly at Trump himself. Amid an escalating federal investigation into individuals in the Trump orbit, Clinton has sharpened those allegations in public appearances, seeming to grow more confident that she will be vindicated by facts.

Clinton has said that if the election had been on October 27 -- the day before Comey sent a letter to members of Congress about her use of an email server -- she would have won the election. In her interview at the Recode conference Wednesday, she went as far as to say that she believes American supporters of Trump colluded with the Russians.

"She clearly feels and many of us feel that the election was stolen from her. It's undisputed how close the margin was in the three states that made the difference," said Terry Shumaker, a longtime Clinton friend and former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad. "Am I angry? Yes. Do I assume she is? Yes."

One former Clinton adviser who has been in touch with her since Election Day was blunt in their assessment of Clinton's recent venting about the circumstances surrounding her defeat.

"I think this time around, the confluence of the Russia hacking and that they tried to sway the election Trump's way... and the Comey thing gave her back-up to say, 'Hey, this wasn't my fault,'" the ex-adviser said. "She doesn't want to be the person that lost Donald Trump. It's one thing to lose to Barack Obama. It's entirely a different thing to lose to Donald Trump."

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What is Hillary Clinton thinking? - CNN

Hillary Clinton at the University of Pittsburgh.

President Donald Trumpinvoked the city of Pittsburghto justify his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," Trump said Thursday in the White House Rose Garden.

The reaction from Pittsburghs mayor, Bill Peduto, was swift. Hetweeted, "Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement @HillaryClinton." At a press conference in Pittsburgh with local reporters Thursday, Peduto repeated this claim: "The people of Pittsburgh voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton, 80 percent."

Pedutos spokesperson Timothy McNulty said Friday the mayor got the number "off the top of his head" and noted the numbers werent that different.

During an appearance on CNN late Thursday, Peduto qualified his earlier statement: "The city of Pittsburgh voted for Hillary Clinton with nearly 80 percent of the vote. [Trump] may be talking about all of western Pennsylvania, but its a far cry from being Pittsburgh." And while on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on MSNBC, Peduto again stuck with the same claim: "Actually in Pittsburgh, Hillary Clinton won with nearly 80 percent of the vote."

Did Clinton win the city by that majority?

Almost. Allegheny County election records show that Clinton won 75 percent of the vote in the city of Pittsburgh, while she won 56 percent of the vote county-wide.We calculated Clintons vote total using precinct-level data publishedby the county through the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center.

Our ruling

Trump said he was elected to represent people from Pittsburgh, not Paris, when explaining why he decided to withdraw the U.S. from a global climate deal. Pittsburghs mayor, Bill Peduto, responded by tweeting that Hillary Clinton received 80 percent of the vote in Pittsburgh. Clinton received 75 percent of the vote. Thats pretty close; Clinton did win the city by an overwhelming number.

We rate this statement Mostly True.

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"Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh." - PolitiFact

Hillary Clinton may be the most tone-deaf politician in modern history. Repeatedly over the course of a 41-year career as a political wife, candidate and appointee, shes said and done things that have alienated voters.

Who can forget her acerbic comments during the 1992 presidential race? I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, she told one reporter on the campaign trail in describing her decision to continue her legal career while first lady of Arkansas.

And then there was her response in defending her husband from allegations of extramarital affairs: You know, Im not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.

OPINION

More recently, there was her testimony in front of the committee investigating the attacks on a U.S. post in Libya that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador: Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided theyd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?

And of course, there was this infamous claim during the presidential campaign: You could put half of Trumps supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. She described these people as irredeemable, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic you name it.

But Clintons tin ear hasnt improved with age or experience. This week, she told a California audience, I take responsibility for every decision I made but thats not why I lost (the presidential election).

She went on to blame the Democratic National Committee, saying that after she became the partys nominee, she inherited nothing from the Democratic Party: It was bankrupt. It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it to keep it going.

She didnt bother to mention that DNC operatives were alleged to have helped her secure the nomination in the first place. She portrayed herself as a victim, even using the word to describe why the assumption she was going to win hurt her.

And of course, she blamed the Russians not without some justification, given their alleged role in hacking her emails and using WikiLeaks to dump them at the height of the election and former FBI Director James Comeys investigation of her private email servers.

Clintons lament, however, helps neither her nor the investigation into Russias meddling in the election. The best thing she could do right now is to stay silent.

Like it or not, Donald Trump won the election according to rules set up in our Constitution, securing enough electoral votes to win the presidency.

There has been no evidence that Russia hacked voting machines and altered the vote count. And even if Trumps operatives helped weaponize information gleaned from the meddling as Clinton claimed without citing evidence other than hearsay saying so publicly without proof may undermine the case against the Russians among those who will simply chalk up the charges to partisan whining.

The more Clinton blames others for her election loss the less sympathetic a figure she becomes. She has never been her own best advocate. Whether its the vast right-wing conspiracy, the Russians or Comey, someone else is always to blame when things dont go her way.

She wants to be perceived as a powerful woman in her own right one capable and deserving of leading the most powerful nation in the world on the one hand and a hapless victim of forces beyond her control on the other.

Shed be better off separating her defeat from the very real possibility that one of Americas strongest adversaries tried to interfere in our election.

Hillary Clinton and many Democrats seem to miss the forest for the trees in the Russia story. Russia may well have wanted to see Clinton defeated and Trump elected, but its ultimate purpose was to undermine confidence in American institutions and our electoral process.

It wanted to sow seeds of distrust among American voters and to undercut American influence in the world, regardless of who won. Turning the story of Russias involvement in the 2016 election into a partisan issue helps further Russian aims, and the real loser is American democracy.

Linda Chavez is the author of An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com

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Hillary Clinton's gripes sow distrust, and Russia likes it - Chicago Sun-Times

Hillary Clinton asked a top aide in 2011 whether she could fly on a separate airplane from former first lady Michelle Obama to Betty Ford's funeral, according to a newly released email.

Judicial Watch released on Thursday more than 2,000 emails from Clinton's unauthorized private email server she used as secretary of state. One of the documents revealed a conversation between Clinton and then-Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin about how she would rather not ride the same plane as Obama en route Ford's funeral in Palm Desert, Calif.

"I'd be honored to speak," Clinton said in reference to Betty Ford's funeral. "Is it OK that we and Mrs. O take two separate planes?"

The recent email release allegedly shows Clinton receiving and sending more classified information via her private unsecured server. Many of the conversations revolve around the individuals involved with the Clinton Foundation receiving favors from Abedin.

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Newly released email: Clinton asked to fly on separate plane from Michelle Obama in 2011 - Washington Examiner