Tulsi Gabbard's Lawyers to Clinton: Take It Back

The Tulsi Gabbard-Hillary Clinton beef now includes lawyers. Attorneys for the 2020 hopeful on Monday sent a letter to Clinton demanding that she "immediately" retract her "defamatory" comments on Gabbard; they want a verbal retraction, as well as one posted to Twitter, reports the Hill. The comments in question were made in October during an episode of David Plouffe's Campaign HQ podcast. Clinton said of Gabbard, "She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her, so far." She also said "they" are grooming Gabbard to mount a third-party campaign; a Clinton rep later said the "they" referred to the GOP. Gabbard's lawyers aren't buying it.

Their letter states, "It appears you may now be claiming that this statement is about Republicans (not Russians) grooming Gabbard. "But this makes no sense in light of what you actually said. After you made the statement linking Congresswoman Gabbard to the Russians, you (through your spokesman) doubled down on it with the Russian nesting dolls remark." Fox News reports the lawyers proposed a statement for Clinton to make, which includes an admission of a "grave mistake and error" and proclaims her "support" and "admir[ation]" of Gabbard's work. CNN notes Clinton's comments may have actually helped Gabbard qualify for November's debate; she had previously never polled above the necessary 3%. (More Tulsi Gabbard 2020 stories.)