Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the “queen of warmongers” on Friday, blaming Clinton for orchestrating recent smears against her in the mainstream media.
Earlier on Friday, Clinton suggested that Gabbard was being “groomed” by Russia as a potential third-party candidate. Appearing on a podcast hosted by former Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, Clinton called Gabbard “the favorite of the Russians.”
Last weekend, the New York Times made similar accusations against Gabbard, without any evidence, calling her “a potentially useful vector for Russian efforts to sow division within the Democratic Party.”
Gabbard threatened to boycott last Tuesday’s presidential debate over the article, since the Times co-sponsored the event with CNN. She did not mention Clinton.
But on Friday, Gabbard let loose:
Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain. From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a …
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 18, 2019
… concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and …
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 18, 2019
… powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.
It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 18, 2019
Gabbard, who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2016 presidential election, resigned a leadership post in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in protest at its favoritism toward Clinton.
The left has long resented Clinton for voting to authorize the Iraq War. She also took credit for the war in Libya — a war that had disastrous results, as it allowed terrorist groups to take root across northern Africa. Clinton was widely blamed by conservatives for lax security around the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which was attacked on Sep. 11, 2012.
The Obama administration originally characterized the attack as a protest against an anti-Islamic video posted by an obscure American filmmaker on YouTube.
Hillary Clinton has continued to blame Russia for her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. She also criticized the Obama administration — after leaving it — for not intervening in Syria sooner. Gabbard is a critic of U.S. involvement in Syria.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.