Trump Praises Tulsi Gabbard for Not Voting to Impeach Him: ‘I Give Her A Lot of Respect’

President Donald Trump, while railing against his impeachment, took time to praise Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard for not voting to impeach him.

“They knew a few days into the Russian witch hunt that it was nothing,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA conference in Florida Saturday. “It didn’t exist. Did you the see the other day? Crooked Hillary came out, she said that Jill Stein from the Green Party, she said Jill Stein was a Russian agent. Now, I don’t know Jill Stein, I’m sure she’s a fine woman. But I know she’s not a Russian agent.”

“Then she said Tulsi Gabbard is a weapon of Russia. And they lost all credibility because you know that Tulsi Gabbard — and I give her respect. She didn’t vote the other day. I give her a lot of respect, because she knew it was wrong. But I don’t know, but I know one thing. She is not an agent of Russia,” he continued.

Gabbard voted present on both articles of impeachment and trashed the process as a “partisan endeavor.”

Trump was referencing Hillary Clinton’s podcast interview where she called Stein a “Russian asset” and claimed Russia was “grooming” one of the 2020 Democrats for a spoiler third-party run.

A Clinton spokesperson later obliquely confirmed the 2016 presidential candidate was talking about Gabbard, which resulted in the Hawaii congresswoman calling Clinton “the queen of warmongers.” Stein also said it was an “unhinged conspiracy” to claim she’s a Russian asset.

Watch above, via C-SPAN.