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Gabbard sues Hillary Clinton over Russia 'favorite' comments

Read full article: Gabbard sues Hillary Clinton over Russia 'favorite' comments

NEW YORK, N.Y. ā€“ Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard filed a defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton on Wednesday over an interview in which Clinton appeared to call Gabbard "the favorite of the Russians.ā€Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman, said in her lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan that Clinton's comments in a podcast last year in which she suggested that Gabbard was being groomed by Russia to be a third-party candidate were based on either her own imagination or ā€œextremely dubious conspiracy theoriesā€ that any reasonable person would know to be ā€œinherently and objectively unreliable.ā€During the Oct. 15 Democratic presidential debate, Gabbard criticized a TV commentator she said had called her ā€œan asset of Russia.ā€Without naming Gabbard, Clinton appeared to agree with the characterization during a podcast appearance days later on ā€œCampaign HQ with David Plouffe.ā€ Plouffe was campaign manager for President Barack Obama in 2008 and served as served as a senior adviser to the president. ā€œSheā€™s the favorite of the Russians,ā€ Clinton told Plouffe, who was campaign manager for future President Barack Obama in 2008, referring to a person she had earlier identified as a woman ā€œwhoā€™s currently in the Democratic primary. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.ā€The lawsuit charges that Clinton ā€œreserves a special hatred and animosity for Tulsiā€ because Gabbard endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders over Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary campaign and never endorsed Clinton. Asked to comment on the lawsuit, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said, ā€œThat's ridiculous.ā€Gabbard, whose support among Democratic primary voters has averaged around 1% in polls, has said she will not run for president as a third-party candidate.