Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has fired back at Hillary Clinton, saying she has “blood on her hands” because the former Secretary of State backed U.S. intervention in Iraq.
“Thousands of my brothers and sisters in uniform were killed in Iraq, a war that she championed,” said Gabbard, who served in a medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.
“Their blood is on her hands. That’s why she’s smearing my character and trying to undermine my campaign,” Gabbard said on Fox News.
Gabbard (D-HI), who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has been battling Clinton since the 2016 loser claimed Gabbard is a “Russian asset” being groomed to ensure that President Donald Trump is re-elected
“They are also going to do third party again,” Clinton said “Campaign HQ,” a podcast hosted by David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008. “I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third party candidate,” Clinton said.
Plouffe asked Clinton about past third-party candidates like Jill Stein of the Green Party, who election analysts say helped Trump win a few key states. Clinton returned to the mysterious candidate.
“She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and ways of supporting her so far. That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset,” Clinton said. “They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate, and so I do not know who it is going to be but I can guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states [where] they most need it.”
So far, only two of Gabbard’s fellow 2020 candidates have come to her defense.
“Tulsi Gabbard deserves much more respect and thanks than this. She literally just got back from serving our country abroad,” Andrew Yang wrote on Twitter. Author Marianne Williamson also wrote, “The Democratic establishment has got to stop smearing women it finds inconvenient!”
“The character assassination of women who don’t toe the party line will backfire,” she continued, telling Gabbard, “You deserve respect and you have mine.”
Gabbard has repeatedly targeted Clinton, saying she is disrespecting veterans.
“This is about Hillary Clinton sending a very strong message saying that, because I am and have long been calling for an end to our country’s foreign policy from regime change to regime change next ongoing in Syria and calling for an end to this new Cold War and nuclear arms race, that I’m a Russian asset and a traitor to the nation I love. Not only do they say that about me, they are basically sending this message out to every veteran in this country, every service member, every American, everyone watching at home fighting for peace and who was calling for an end to these regime change wars, and they are saying you are also a Russian asset, you’re also a traitor to this country. That’s really what’s happening here,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard also fired back at Clinton on Twitter. “Thank you @HillaryClinton,” she posted on Friday. “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 … 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 … powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.”