Tulsi Gabbard's lawyers demand Hillary Clinton retract 'defamatory' Russian asset claim

Attorneys representing Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) sent a letter Monday demanding Hillary Clinton retract her "defamatory" claim that Gabbard is a Russian asset.

What are the details?

Last month, Clinton suggested during a podcast interview that the Russians were "grooming" a current Democratic presidential candidate for a third-party run. Without calling Gabbard out by name, the former secretary of state said, "she's a favorite of the Russians."

When asked later whether Clinton was referring to Gabbard, a Clinton spokesperson said, "If the nesting doll fits." The Washington Times noted that Clinton herself "later tried to clarify her statement to say she was talking about Republicans, not Russians, but Ms. Gabbard isn't buying it."

Gabbard reacted to the comments by calling Clinton "the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long."

On Monday, Gabbard's attorneys wrote a letter to Clinton demanding she retract her "defamatory" claim and apologize.

After pointing to Clinton's previous statements, the attorneys dismantled Clinton's "Republicans-not-Russians spin," calling it "rubbish,' and asked the former Democratic presidential nominee to issue a public retraction and apology.

"We demand that you immediately hold a press conference to verbally retract — in full — your comments," the lawyers wrote. "We also demand you immediately publish this full and fair retraction on the twitter account @HillaryClinton, and distribute it to CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post."

Gabbard's legal counsel wants Clinton to issue a statement saying:

On October 17, 2019, I made certain statements about Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Among other things, I accused her of being a Russian asset and that Russia was grooming her to be a third-party presidential candidate.

I was wrong. I never should have made these remarks, and I apologize. I did not have any basis for making the statements. I acknowledge my grave mistake and error in judgment in this matter.

I support and admire the work that Congresswoman Gabbard has done and will continue to do in serving our country.