Tulsi takes Hillary to court for ‘Russian asset’ smear

Court is in session! As an onerous and dreary impeachment trial drags on in the Senate, Cockburn’s interest was piqued by some more exciting legal action: Tulsi Gabbard is suing Hillary Clinton for defamation.

In a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, Gabbard’s lawyers offer this deliciously catty assessment of Clinton’s decision to label their client a ‘Russian asset’ last October:

‘Tulsi Gabbard is running for president of the United States, a position Clinton has long coveted, but has not been able to attain. In October 2019 — whether out of personal animus, political enmity, or fear of real change within a political party Clinton and her allies have long dominated — Clinton lied about her perceived rival Tulsi Gabbard. She did so publicly, unambiguously, and with obvious malicious intent. Tulsi has been harmed by Clinton’s lies — and American democracy has suffered as well. With this action, Tulsi seeks to hold Clinton, and the political elites who enable her, accountable for distorting the truth in the middle of a critical presidential election.‘

Yesterday, Tulsi was criticizing Clinton’s attack on Bernie Sanders, saying ‘this isn’t high school’. Looks like instead Tulsi plans to take Hillary back to law school.

"This isn't high school." In interview with @WMUR9 @TulsiGabbard reacts to @HillaryClinton's "nobody likes him" dig vs. @BernieSanders #FITN #nhpolitics #WMUR pic.twitter.com/GY5PiqVxb3

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) January 21, 2020

The complaint goes on to describe Clinton as a ‘cutthroat politician by any account’ and says her ‘peddling of this theory has harmed Tulsi, has harmed American voters, and has harmed American democracy.’ It then accuses Clinton of launching a ‘damaging whisper campaign based on baseless, but vicious, untruths’ and says she ‘reserves a special hatred and animosity for Tulsi — who never endorsed Clinton, did not campaign for her, and to top it off, gave the nomination speech for Senator Sanders at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.’

It’s quite a read, and Cockburn thinks it rather clever to see someone pulling off a Hillary-esque trick against her.

Hillary’s comments about Tulsi, as Cockburn mentioned yesterday, came as the former first lady was promoting her new children’s book. And her slight against Tulsi’s preferred 2016 candidate, Bernie Sanders, was delivered in the run-up to the release of the new Hulu documentary, Hillary. Now it’s the Hawai’i congresswoman who’s set the internet ablaze with a complaint about a political rival. And she’s not even selling anything — she’s just trying to give her campaign a little kickstart before the Iowa primary next month, where the most recent poll currently has her at 1.3 percent.

The complaint estimates damages of $50 million are owed by Clinton to Rep. Gabbard — though sadly this wouldn’t constitute a campaign donation. Cockburn hopes for Clinton’s sake that the best lawyers in New York aren’t all tied up helping her old chum Harvey Weinstein.

But is a lawsuit the best use of Tulsi’s time? The far-right Canadian YouTuber Stefan Molyneux has another suggestion:

https://twitter.com/StefanMolyneux/status/1220086271302950912