Hillary Clinton has been back in the news and sharing her thoughts on the current political landscape. In her most recent comments, the former Secretary of State took aim at Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard by floating a conspiracy theory that once again brings Russia into the mix.
While speaking with former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on his podcast Campaign HQ, Clinton said that she believes the Russians are going to attempt to interfere with the 2020 election.
This time around, she implied that Gabbard would be the candidate of choice for Russia and that they could be “grooming” her to run as a third-party candidate.
“They’re also going to do third party again. And I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary. And they’re grooming her to be the third party candidate,” Clinton said, seemingly making a reference to Gabbard, via CBS News. “She’s the favorite of the Russians, they have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far, and – that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not, because she is also a Russian asset — yeah, she’s a Russian asset! I mean totally!
“They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate. And so, I don’t know who it’s gonna be, but I can guarantee they’ll have a vigorous third party challenge in the key states that they most need it.”
During the October CNN/New York Times Democratic Debate, Gabbard blasted media reports which called her a Russian asset early on during the televised event. She has long faced those criticisms and has also been accused by fellow candidates like Kamala Harris of being a sympathizer of Bashar al-Assad.
Gabbard has yet to qualify for the next round of Democratic debates so her run could soon be coming to an end, but if Hillary is to be believed we could see Gabbard work her way back into the mix as a third-party candidate.