U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a fledgling candidate for her party’s 2020 presidential nomination, is suing Hillary Clinton for $50 million in damages.
In a suit filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York, Gabbard alleges the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady called Gabbard a “Russian asset.”
The suit alleges Clinton “lied about her perceived rival” on Oct. 17, 2019, when Clinton was a guest on a podcast titled “Campaign HQ with David Plouffe.”
Clinton said “somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary” is “the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. And, that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset.
“Yeah, she’s a Russian asset.”
The podcast was hosted by Plouffe, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager.
The next day, a spokesperson for Clinton was asked by a CNN reporter if Clinton was referring to Gabbard.
“If the nesting doll fits,” replied the spokesperson, Nick Merrill. “This is not some outlandish claim. This is reality.”
According to the suit, Clinton lied “publicly, unambiguously, and with obvious malicious intent” about Gabbard, who endorsed Clinton’s 2016 Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“Clinton — a cutthroat politician by any account — has never forgotten this perceived slight,” the lawsuit said.
Gabbard, a congresswoman from Hawaii, has failed to qualify for the two most recent Democratic presidential debates in Los Angeles and Iowa.
The important Iowa caucuses, the nation’s first major event in a presidential election year, are Feb. 3.
Earlier this week, Clinton took aim at Sanders in a nationally publicized interview, in which she said "nobody likes" the independent Vermont senator. Sanders is again seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
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