From the Ukraine scandal and Turkish attacks on Kurds in Syria to foreign meddling in U.S. elections, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered insights on a variety of issues in a wide-ranging conversation Oct. 10 at Rackham Auditorium.

Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, also said the U.S. is facing a constitutional crisis under President Donald Trump, and that his recent actions involving Ukraine seem to constitute an impeachable offense.

She said whoever follows Trump in the White House will have to do “a lot of repair work,” but also added that she feels hopeful.

“This is a moment in history when I think the voices of others, the voices of other elected officials, the voices of citizen leaders, the voices of prominent business leaders all need to be heard, so that people around the world will know that the America that they used to count on … that represented the values they aspired to, will be back,” she said. “We’ll find our way back.”

Clinton’s visit, which included other stops on the Ann Arbor campus, was part of a speaker series hosted by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy’s Weiser Diplomacy Center. Ford School Dean Michael Barr served as moderator for Clinton’s talk.

The former first lady received two standing ovations and several bursts of applause from the crowd in the packed auditorium.

Regarding the impeachment inquiry of Trump, who is alleged to have asked Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Clinton said it is “a solemn, sad moment for our country, but we have to enforce our laws and our constitution, and we have to hold our leaders accountable.”      

She opened by discussing how the rise of technology and other factors are stressing longstanding institutions that have buoyed U.S. democracy, and peace and prosperity. At the top of that list, she said, is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She said Putin has been trying to “undermine NATO, the European Union, American democracy, our elections, for his own purposes in pursuit of his geopolitical strategic goals of restoring, in his view, Russian greatness.”

Clinton also said Trump’s recent decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria gave Turkey a “green light” to launch military strikes against the Kurds, who have been an ally to the United States in the fight against the terror group ISIS.

A better approach, she said, would have been to call a meeting with NATO, sit down with the Turkish government and hash out a plan that would have spared civilian lives while also addressing both U.S. and Turkish interests in the region.  

Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party, was asked how the country can prevent foreign influence in elections.

“First, accept the fact that it happened,” she said, drawing laughter and applause. “Right now, we’re in a real quandary, because the only institution capable of stopping this is the federal government. … And there seems to be very little appetite by the federal government to do anything about it.”

She also said a Democratic presidential candidate could run a fantastic 2020 campaign but still lose because of four factors beyond his or her control: voter suppression, information that is stolen and then weaponized, outrageous stories in social media, and election interference.

“All I want is a free, fair, transparent, honest election not interfered with by Russians or anybody else so that the choice of the American people is actually the choice of the American people,” she said.