Gabbard lawyers demand retraction of Clinton's 'defamation'

[RandySF]

Lawyers representing Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Monday called on Hillary Clinton to retract her comments alleging that the 2020 hopeful was a favorite candidate of the Russians, accusing the 2016 Democratic nominee of defamation.

"Your statement is defamatory, and we demand that you retract it immediately," Gabbard's lawyer wrote in a letter, demanding that Clinton "immediately" verbally retract the comments, in addition to posting the retraction on Twitter.

The Hill has reached out to Clinton's spokesman for comment.

Clinton made the remarks last month on the Campaign HQ podcast.

“She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her, so far,” Clinton said, without referring to Gabbard by name.

The 2016 Democratic nominee also said "they" are grooming Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate against the eventual Democratic nominee.

A Clinton spokesman later said 2016 Democratic nominee had been referring to Republicans with the grooming comment.



https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/469843-gabbard-lawyers-demand-retraction-of-clintons-defamation

[Lochloosa]

1. Clinton did not mention her. She outed herself.

[ehrnst]

2. Yes, this is a case of "If the shoe fits..." (nt)

[hlthe2b]

4. Exactly... One can not defame someone never identified.

This is another attention-seeking stunt.

[thesquanderer]

18. Seriously, did you or anyone else who follows Dem politics really think it could have been...

...Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, or Williamson?

One doesn't have to identify a person by name to know exactly who is being referenced.

[Hav]

22. That's the problem right there and not Hillary's comments

When someone says that there might be a candidate who could get groomed for a third party run and who is a favorite of the Russians and everybody goes "Yeah, that's Gabbard" and Gabbard thinks "They are talking about me, right?" then that is very telling. Granted, the comments were a bit more specific and narrowed the potential targets but the crucial thing to consider is that Hillary didn't make an explosive, surprising revelation that no one considered before her comments.

[crazytown]

25. And THAT ubiquitous recognition

torpedoes the defamation case.

[LanternWaste]

29. Lawsuit judgements are rarely predicated on biased inferences.

[barbtries]

3. what a joke.

what was that i saw on twitter? something about when i hear tulsi gabbard i see jill stein or something along those lines.

[onecaliberal]

5. Gabbard was never mentioned. I guess the truth hurts.

[Me.]

6. A Very Trumpian Move

Must still be down in the polls. And any lawyer who goes along with this is a fool with a fool for a client.

[Pachamama]

7. Yawn....

Tulsi.....

Move on....move back to Hawaii full time....or Russia...

[MrsCoffee]

8. Who?

[BlueMTexpat]

9. LOL, Tulsi's really

hoping to build more steam from among the rampant Hillary haters.

Good luck with that! Tulsi's a public figure and wasn't even named.

Her lawyers seem to be on a part with those representing Trump.

[TheBlackAdder]

20. Are they the same lawyers that both Trump and those Russians are using?

[still_one]

10. Looking for more attention Gabbard?

[Firestorm49]

11. Clinton still has sources of information that we don't.

She wouldn’t be stupid enough to open herself up to a lawsuit if she didn’t have credible info. I for one, hope that she goes public with facts that substantiate her claim.

[OKNancy]

12. It's not defamation if it is true; opinions are also not defamation

From Findlaw:

Defamation law will only consider statements defamatory if they are, in fact, false. A true statement is not considered defamation. Additionally, because of their nature, statements of opinion are not considered false because they are subjective to the speaker.

[Iliyah]

13. HRC statement named no names, therefore, Tulsi Gabbard

has no barren.

On the other hand, HRC does have a rightfully lawsuit against Gabbard for defamation. Gabbard went on fake news (Murdoch) and twitted some awful and untruth things about HRC.

[brush]

14. For God's sake hasn't Gabbard milked this enough?

Seems her hands should be exhausted from pulling those cow teats for so long.

[NurseJackie]

15. Aw.

[redqueen]

16. I wish I understood how any of this was supposed to be helpful.

Killing a third party candidacy? No, if anything this helped increase the likelihood and also gave her a rallying cry should she decide to do it.

Hope it was somehow worth it to someone.

[Hav]

17. She's mad and desperate

Her 3rd party run was supposed to be such a nice surprise with a big announcement on Fox News in a Dem bash festival with Tucker Carlson and Hannity.

Seriously though, I can't understand her defenders here and those blaming Clinton. It's clear that Gabbard isn't running for the Dem primary anymore. You cannot win the Dem primary by waging war against Hillary. She should have denied the claims and moved on.

[boomer_wv]

19. The DNC

should require all participants to sign a contact agreeing that they will not seek office outside of the Democratic Party for a time of two years when they agree to be included in a debate.

If you don't like that idea you don't have to be in the debate.

It's not the job of the party to provide a platform for anyone who will be competing against them.

[Xandric77]

21. Frivolous lawsuit

Hillary didn't say Gabbard is an agent (being an asset means Russia is simply using her with or without her knowledge).
Not to mention that Hillary didn't mention her name.

[Bettie]

23. Seems that since her name wasn't mentioned

she's mighty sure that she was the one Clinton was talking about.

Sounds like Ms. Gabbard is protesting a wee bit too much for someone who was never named at all.

Publicity hound.

[scardycat]

24. After she quits her campaign to run for prez...

she will change her party affiliation to Republican and join the Fox newz network...any wagers? AND She is a disgrace to the Democratic Party.

[crazytown]

26. No. Fox News will want a rebel 'Democrat'

The opinion of a f'riendly, sane' Dem to contrast with the 'crazy radical' leadership.

[Xandric77]

27. She already joined the Fox News network

She lives there.

[.99center]

28. "I support and admire the work that Congresswoman Gabbard has done and will continue to do."

The Gabbard campaign’s demand for an apology from Hillary Clinton includes the text they want her to deliver, including "I support and admire the work that Congresswoman Gabbard has done and will continue to do."

Link to tweet