Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 election Hillary Clinton has attributed her defeat to misogyny, among other things. In her first interview since she lost, Clinton said she “wrestles” with the fact that her gender did influence the results.

Clinton, who was speaking to The New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof at the Women in the World summit, said she still cannot fathom that 53% of white women voted for her rival Donald Trump. “Certainly misogyny played a role,” she said, according to The Guardian.

She also revealed that she is currently writing a book on the reasons for her electoral defeat. Comparing herself with Mary Mallon, who was isolated after she became the first person in US to be diagnosed with typhoid, Clinton said that public opinion changed when she showed interest in running for the White House. “By the time they finished with me, I was Typhoid Mary... Poor Mary, she didn’t deserve it either, when you go back and look at the history,” said Clinton.

She also took digs at US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Clinton said both the men are not fond of strong women. “Although he [Putin] did shake hands with me,” said Clinton in a clear reference to Trump’s refusal to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the latter’s visit.

The former secretary of state did not mince words when she called for an independent investigation into Russia’s involvement in the US election process, according to The Telegraph. “What [Vladimir] Putin wanted to do was sow distrust and confusion as well as influence our election,” she said and added that its time US political leaders act like “patriotic Americans”.

Asked about the US policy in Syria and the recent intervention, Clinton said that she believed they could have done more. “I really believe we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him [Assad] from being able to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them,” said Clinton.