Hilary Clinton: I regret saying half of Donald Trump supporters are deplorable

Clinton's remarks were made at a fundraiser on Friday. Pic/AFP

Washington: Hillary Clinton yesterday expressed "regret" for calling half of Donald Trump's supporters "deplorable" people, but promised to keep fighting "bigotry and racist rhetoric" by her Republican rival.

"Last night, I was grossly generalistic, and that's never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half' - that was wrong," Clinton said in a statement, in which she also vowed to call out "bigotry" in Trump's campaign. On Friday at a fundraiser, Clinton had said, "To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it."

In her statement, she listed a series of controversial moments from Trump's campaign, including his fight with a Muslim Gold Star family and criticism of a federal US judge of Mexican heritage. She also noted her comments about empathising with other Trump supporters.

After her comments went viral, Trump and Republicans quickly pounced on the remarks, which drew comparisons to Mitt Romney's "47 per cent" remark in 2012.

"Isn't it disgraceful that Hillary Clinton makes the worst mistake of the political season and instead of owning up to this grotesque attack on American voters, she tries to turn it around with a pathetic rehash of the words and insults used in her failing campaign?" Trump said in a statement. "For the first time in a long while, her true feelings came out, showing bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans," he added.