ERIE, Pa. – President Trump has blasted his presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton for telling Democrats that they "cannot be civil" with Republicans, saying that the statement showed "why she lost" to him in 2016.

"I saw the statement by Hillary, and that's why she lost, he said in an interview with the Washington Examiner ahead of his rally in Erie Wednesday evening. He pointedly went out of his way to describe the Democratic Party as "the Democrat party" - a term widely viewed by Democrats as pejorative.

"Because she never got it," Trump continued. "From day one, she never got it. She never understood the Bernie [Sanders] thing, and she doesn't understand.

"She didn't understand who she was, and she didn't understand what the Democrat party - as opposed to '-ic' - the Democrat party was. She didn't understand what her own party was. That's why Hillary lost. And that statement is another reason. It's why she lost."

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour this week, Clinton said: "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that's when civility can start again."