Tulsi Gabbard Sues Hillary Clinton For Defamation Over ‘Russian Asset’ Comments

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has filed a defamation lawsuit against former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In a statement, Gabbard’s campaign revealed that she had “filed a defamation lawsuit against Hillary Rodham Clinton” over “deliberately and maliciously made false statements in an attempt to derail Rep. Gabbard’s campaign, by alleging that Gabbard is a ‘Russian asset.'”

“The complaint seeks compensatory damages and an injunction prohibiting the further publication of Clinton’s defamatory statements,” the statement continued.

Gabbard’s campaign also published the complaint, which states, “Tulsi Gabbard is running for President of the United States, a position Clinton has long coveted, but has not been able to attain.”

“In October 2019—whether out of personal animus, political enmity, or fear of real change within a political party Clinton and her allies have long dominated—Clinton lied about her perceived rival Tulsi Gabbard. She did so publicly, unambiguously, and with obvious malicious intent. Tulsi has been harmed by Clinton’s lies—and American democracy has suffered as well,” the complaint proclaimed. “With this action, Tulsi seeks to hold Clinton, and the political elites who enable her, accountable for distorting the truth in the middle of a critical Presidential election.”

The complaint referred to Clinton as a “cutthroat politician,” before arguing, “Clinton’s Defamatory Statements immediately harmed Tulsi.”

“Despite reprobation of Clinton by several 2020 presidential candidates—including Senator Bernie Sanders, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang—for her baseless conspiracy-mongering, Clinton’s Defamatory Statements spread like wildfire across the Internet, and took on a life of their own,” it continued. “Millions of Americans heard (or read about) a well-known authority figure, Clinton, stating as fact that Tulsi was a ‘Russian asset’ and ‘the favorite of the Russians.'”

“Scientifically conducted opinion surveys have shown that Clinton’s false, malicious statements about Tulsi were accepted as true,” the complaint alleged, adding, “In short, Clinton got exactly what she wanted by lying about Tulsi—she harmed her political and personal rival’s reputation and ongoing Presidential campaign, and started a damaging whisper campaign based on baseless, but vicious, untruths.”

Gabbard’s complaint also noted that Clinton has refused to retract her remarks or apologize.

Clinton had claimed during an October interview that Russia was “grooming” a Democratic candidate.

“She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far,” Clinton remarked, before a spokesperson confirmed she was referring to Gabbard.

Gabbard’s lawyers then sent a letter to Clinton in November demanding that she retract her “defamatory” comments.

The lawsuit was just one day after Clinton attacked Gabbard’s fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.