Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard released a video Sunday blasting Hillary Clinton, claiming that Clinton and the “war machine” are trying to “destroy” and “discredit” her because she dared defy them by supporting Bernie Sanders in 2016. “They will not intimidate us. They will not silence us,” Gabbard says before making a plea to viewers to join her in “speaking truth to power.” “Don’t be afraid.”
Hillary & her gang of rich, powerful elite are going after me to send a msg to YOU: “Shut up, toe the line, or be destroyed.” But we, the people, will NOT be silenced. Join me in taking our Democratic Party back & leading a govt of, by & for the people! https://t.co/TOcAOPrxye pic.twitter.com/TahfE2XOek
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 20, 2019
Gabbard’s video is the latest in a series of responses following Clinton’s Thursday appearance on a podcast with former Obama adviser David Plouffe. Clinton told Plouffe the Russians were “grooming” a Democratic candidate to be a third-party candidate, without directly mentioning Gabbard by name. “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. “She’s the favorite of the Russians.”
Gabbard was quick to take aim at Clinton, calling her “the queen of warmongers” and “the embodiment of corruption” in a Friday tweet that soon went viral.
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 also told an NBC reporter on Saturday the comments were part of a “smear campaign” “coming from people like Hillary Clinton and her proxies, the foreign policy establishment, the military-industrial complex, who obviously feel threatened by my message and by my campaign because they know that they can’t control me.”
The video Gabbard released Sunday doesn’t explicitly mention Clinton’s recent comments, but it appears to be a direct response to the feud between the two.
Democratic presidential candidates Andrew Yang, former Texas representative Beto O’Rourke, and Marianne Williamson have come to Gabbard’s defense. Pete Buttigieg said he didn’t want to “get in the middle” of the battle but said he wasn’t comfortable with Clinton’s comments.
Meanwhile, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had perhaps the most memorable response to Gabbard’s tweet on Friday:
https://t.co/wS8OHq1au0 pic.twitter.com/3l6GEm3Wa2
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 18, 2019
