Gabbard, Clinton Spar in Media Fued
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made negative comments last week about Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who responded in kind last Friday.
Clinton said the Russians are “grooming” Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate to undermine a Democratic challenger to President Donald Trump, who has previously dealt with allegations of collusion with Russia to get elected and is still being accused by Democrats of obstructing justice in a subsequent investigation into the matter.
Gabbard responded to Clinton on Twitter Friday by dubbing her “the queen of warmongers,” adding the former First Lady represents a long-standing blight on the Democratic party.
The Congresswoman from Hawai‘i went on to accuse Clinton of being behind a “concerted campaign” to destroy her reputation.
“It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me,” Gabbard tweeted. “Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.”
Clinton implied in earlier comments that Russia was targeting Gabbard, who has been accused of being too sympathetic to Russian interests.
“She’s the favorite of the Russians,” Clinton said on a podcast appearance, during which she never named Gabbard specifically. “They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”
Gabbard said she has no plans to run as a third-party candidate. She also accused CNN and The New York Times of orchestrating a smear campaign against her candidacy during the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
The New York Times recently published a story questioning what it claimed is support for Gabbard from the alt-right and white nationalists. It also noted online bots appearing to favor Gabbard.
Gabbard denied any of those groups have any influence over or relation to her campaign.