Clinton slams Trump, Putin during interview with Stephen Colbert
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hillary Clinton holds her book "It Takes A Village" as she sits on stage at the Warner Theatre in Washington, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, during a book tour event for her new book "What Happened" hosted by the Politics and Prose Bookstore. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (AP)
Hillary Clinton had plenty to say about President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during an appearance Tuesday night on CBS's "The Late Show."
Clinton told host Stephen Colbert that Putin interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election in part because she is a woman, and said Trump’s speech at the United Nations earlier in the day was “very dark, dangerous.”
The failed presidential candidate also reiterated her profound dislike for both Putin and Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She said Putin interfered in the election partly because of her work as U.S. secretary of state (2009-2013), as that made her clash with Putin on numerous occasions. This, according to Clinton, evolved into a grudge on the Russian president’s part.
Clinton – who recently embarked on what critics have called a "blame game" book tour for “What Happened,” her account of her loss to Trump last November – claimed her gender bothered Putin and made him “agitated.” She also ridiculed the Russian leader for “manspreading” – a posture where a man sits with his legs spread widely.
Clinton suggested the Russian leader is “tied up with his anger and disappointment” following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A box of Hillary Clinton's book "What Happened" are staged to be distributed outside the Warner Theatre in Washington, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, as Clinton participates in a book tour event hosted by the Politics and Prose Bookstore. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (AP)
But Putin was not Clinton's only target during the interview. When Colbert asked her about Trump’s U.N. speech, which he delivered earlier Tuesday, Clinton did not hold back.
“I thought it was very dark, dangerous, not the kind of message that the leader of the greatest nation in the world should be delivering,” she said about Trump's remarks to the U.N. General Assembly, in which the president threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” and taunted “Rocket Man” Kim Jong Un.
“What I hoped the president would have said," Clinton critiqued, "was something along the lines of, you know, we view this as dangerous to our allies, to the region, and even to our country. We call on all nations to work with us to try to end the threat posed by Kim Jong Un.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“And not call him 'Rocket Man,' the old Elton John song, but to say, clearly, we will not tolerate any attacks on our friends or ourselves,” Clinton added, noting that, “You should lead with diplomacy, you should lead with the commitment of trying to avoid conflict however you can.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.