Tulsi takes Hillary to court over ‘Russian asset’ jibe
WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Hillary Clinton for defamation on Wednesday, seeking at least $50 million in damages for harming her reputation by suggesting last year that one of the party’s White House contenders was a “Russian asset”.
The lawsuit said Clinton’s comments had damaged the presidential candidacy of Gabbard, a US congresswoman from Hawaii, and were motivated by anger over Gabbard’s endorsement in 2016 of Clinton’s Democratic nominating contest rival, Bernie Sanders.
“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,” said the lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York.
Clinton’s spokesman Merrill did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, had said on a podcast in October that Russians were grooming one of the Democratic presidential candidates for a third-party bid, but did not name the candidate.
“She’s the favourite of the Russians, they have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far, and that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not, because she’s also a Russian asset,” Clinton said.
Stein was the Green Party candidate in the 2016 presidential election.