Hillary Clinton Faults Trump On Health Care And Lack Of Female Appointees

Hillary Clinton criticized the lack of diversity in the Trump White House and the ill-fated Republican health care proposal in what were her most political public remarks since losing the November presidential election to Donald Trump.

Clinton made her observations in an address to the Professional BusinessWomen of California in San Francisco on Tuesday night. "There's no place I'd rather be than here with you," she told the gathering, adding, "other than the White House."

Clinton said she was appalled by a photo that circulated last week of an all-male group of Republican lawmakers meeting at the White House with Vice President Pence discussing women's health care.

And she chastised Trump, whom she did not mention by name, for having the fewest number of women in top jobs "in a generation." There are just four women holding Cabinet-level jobs in the administration out of 23 such positions. Clinton had promised women would fill half of her Cabinet jobs.

She also was critical of comments by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who told American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan, "Please, stop shaking your head," during Tuesday's press briefing. "Too many women have had a lifetime of practice taking this kind of indignity in stride," Clinton said.

She said the withdrawal of the GOP health care bill last week was "a victory for all Americans," singling out efforts to end coverage mandates in particular. "Really? Take away maternity care?" she asked. "Who do these people talk to?"

Clinton said the death of the measure was a sign that efforts to organize in opposition to Trump's agenda could work, citing the Women's March on Washington the day after Trump's inauguration. "There were plenty of people, as you might expect, who wondered whether that level of energy and enthusiasm would be sustained and whether it would make any difference," Clinton said. "I'm here to tell you, last week we saw the first indication that the answer to both of those questions is yes."

Clinton has generally kept a low profile since her defeat in November, but has said that she intends to start speaking out again on issues. She was critical of the Trump administration's efforts to bar refugees from entering the country, and to take action against what Trump insists was voter fraud during his successful campaign last year.

"These are bad policies that will hurt people and take our country in the wrong direction."

And referring to the hiking she has been seen doing with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, near their suburban New York home, she added, "It's the kind of things you think about when you take long walks in the woods: Resist, insist, persist, enlist."

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.