Sen. Bernie Sanders has defended fellow Democratic candidate for president, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, against accusations made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the congresswoman is being “groomed” as a Russia-backed third-party candidate for president.
“Tulsi Gabbard has put her life on the line to defend this country,” Sanders said in a statement Monday evening. “People can disagree on issues, but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset.”
Tulsi Gabbard has put her life on the line to defend this country. People can disagree on issues, but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 21, 2019
Late last week, Clinton said Republicans would attempt to boost a third-party candidate to help President Donald Trump’s reelection effort in key battleground states, and that it would likely be someone closely aligned with Russia.
“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.
After she made the comments, Nick Merrill, a Clinton aide, was asked if the former secretary of state was referring to Gabbard.
“If the nesting doll fits,” Merrill responded, a reference to the famous Russian toys.
Gabbard, who was deployed twice to the Middle East and holds the rank of major in the Army National Guard, refuted suggestions she is a “Russian asset” during the last presidential debate, but has continued to be taken to task for her anti-interventionist foreign policy stance.
The Hawaii congresswoman has also faced sharp criticism for her decision to meet with Bashar al Assad, the president of Syria, in 2017. Assad faces widespread allegations of committing crimes against humanity during eight years of civil war in his country.
Nina Turner, senior adviser and campaign surrogate for Sanders, spoke out in support of Gabbard over the weekend, before the Vermont senator did so himself.
On MSNBC Sunday, Turner said Clinton’s decision to level an unfounded allegation was uncalled for, adding that attempts to “red-bait” should be off limits.
“We went through a red scare in this country in the 1950s under McCarthyism, and I just think it is wrong for people to level that kind of stuff at the congresswoman with no proof,” Turner said.
Gabbard, for her part, responded to Clinton’s accusations of Russian support for her candidacy in a series of posts across social media platforms.
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
Gabbard called Clinton “the queen of warmongers” and said the smear campaign was retaliation for her choosing to support Sanders in 2016.
“People warned me in 2016 that my endorsement of Bernie Sanders would be the end of my ‘political career.’ They said, ‘Clinton will never forget, that she and rich and powerful friends, her allies in politics and in the media will make sure that you are destroyed,’” Gabbard said in an online video.
Gabbard was one of the first elected officials to back Sanders when he ran against Clinton for the Democratic nomination four years ago. At the time, Gabbard, who was a rising star in the Democratic Party, resigned as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee in order to endorse Sanders.
In 2016, explaining her reasons for siding with the Vermont independent, Gabbard said she believed Sanders had better foreign policy judgment than Clinton and was more committed to ending U.S. military involvement overseas.
While the Vermont senator is the first frontrunner in the Democratic primary to condemn Clinton’s comments, he joins a number of other candidates who have stood up for Gabbard: Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have remained silent on the subject.
“I’m not surprised that he is supporting Tulsi. He has a long-standing relationship there, and has been consistently supportive of fellow candidates in this election,” Nick Carter, a top Sanders staffer in 2016 before becoming Clinton’s Vermont state director in the general election, said in a Tuesday interview.
Gabbard was a “fellow” at the Sanders Institute, the largely inactive think-tank that suspended operations ahead of the 2020 election, and a keynote speaker at the organization’s Burlington “gathering” in advance of Sanders’ presidential announcement.
Carter added he does not believe Sanders’ comments should be construed as an attack on Clinton or the Democratic establishment.
After Sanders lost the Democratic nomination to Clinton, he campaigned for her tirelessly, holding 39 rallies in 13 states between September and November of 2016, according to the Vermont senator’s campaign.
“It is more about having a united front for beating Trump, which couldn’t be more timely,” Carter said of Sanders’ decision to publicly support Gabbard.