Clinton says she wanted to curl up and never leave home after Trump win

Hillary Clinton has expressed her disappointment at her election defeat to Donald Trump, in her first public appearance since her loss last week.

“I will admit coming here wasn’t the easiest thing for me,” Clinton told an audience in Washington DC. “There have been a few times this past week when all I’ve wanted to do was just to curl up with a good book or our dogs and never leave the house ever again.”

The Democratic candidate was speaking at a gala for the Children’s Defence Fund, where she started her career over four decades ago. The organisation’s founder Marian Wright Edelamn introduced Clinton to the audience as “the people’s president”, noting that she was leading the popular vote by over a million votes.

“I know that over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether America is the country we thought it was,” she said. “The divisions laid bare by this election run deep. But, please, listen to me when I say this: America is worth it. Our children are worth it. Believe in our country and fight for our values and never, ever give up.

“The words of Dr King, often repeated by President Obama: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.’ I know sometimes it can feel awfully long – believe me, I know. Bit I also know it does bend.”

In her concession speech after last week’s shock defeat, Clinton said that Trump must be given a chance to lead the country. Since then she has kept a low profile, although she was spotted out while walking. In a phonecall leaked to US media, she also blamed her defeat on FBI director James Comey, who announced a fresh inquiry into her use of a private email server in the run up to the vote.