Rep. Tulsi Gabbard isn’t done responding to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for saying she is being groomed for use as a tool by Russian intelligence agencies.
The 2020 presidential hopeful from Hawaii called Mrs. Clinton the “embodiment of corruption” last Friday before crafting a plea to supporters on Sunday.
“People warned me in 2016 that my endorsement of Bernie Sanders would be the end of my quote, unquote ’political career,’ ” she said in a Twitter video viewed over 2.1 million times by Monday evening.
“They said Clinton will never forget, that she and her rich and powerful friends, her allies in politics and the media will make sure that you are destroyed. Well, there have been countless hit pieces full of smears against me from day one of this campaign. They’ve tried to destroy my reputation and my lifetime of service because I stood up to them,” she said.
At issue is an appearance Mrs. Clinton made on “Campaign HQ” podcast with David Plouffe, in which she alluded to Ms. Gabbard while saying: “She’s the favorite of the Russians, they have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset. She’s a Russian asset! I mean, totally.”
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill was asked whether the former secretary of state was referring to Ms. Gabbard and he replied, “if the nesting doll fits,” NBC News reported.
“If they can falsely portray me as a traitor, then they can do it to anyone,” Ms. Gabbard replied while mentioning her years of military service.
“In fact, that’s exactly the message that they want to get across to you: That if you stand up against Hillary and the party power brokers, if you stand up to the rich and powerful elite and the war machine, they will destroy you and discredit your message. But here is the truth: They will not intimidate us. They will not silence us. We are not here just to protest their corruption. I am running for president to take the Democratic Party and our country back from the corrupt elite. I’m running for president to bring about a new Democratic Party,” she concluded.
Ms. Stein, who was the 2016 Green Party presidential candidate, mocked Mrs. Clinton on Twitter for “peddling conspiracy theories to justify her failure.”
Hillary & her gang of rich, powerful elite are going after me to send a msg to YOU: “Shut up, toe the line, or be destroyed.” But we, the people, will NOT be silenced. Join me in taking our Democratic Party back & leading a govt of, by & for the people! https://t.co/TOcAOPrxye pic.twitter.com/TahfE2XOek
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 20, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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