A Look Back At The Legal Drama Between Tulsi Gabbard & Hillary Clinton

Tulsi Gabbard's career path has been a winding one. Once a Democratic congresswoman who backed Bernie Sanders in 2016, Gabbard's trajectory veered sharply over the decade that followed, ultimately leading her to campaign as a potential running mate for Donald Trump in 2024. One stop along the way came when she filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton over comments made on the "Campaign HQ with David Plouffe" podcast in 2019.

During the interview, Clinton said of the Republicans, "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." She continued: "She's a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far" (via Politifact). Though Clinton never mentioned Gabbard by name, the implication was clear.

Gabbard demanded a retraction. On the contrary, Clinton's spokesperson, Nick Merrill, doubled down: "If the nesting doll fits" (via X, formerly Twitter). Gabbard clapped back with an inflammatory piece for the Wall Street Journal, headlined "I Can Defeat Trump and the Clinton Doctrine." She also tweeted Clinton, saying "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." In January 2020, Gabbard took matters to court, filing a $50 million defamation lawsuit, which claimed the remarks "were made in a deliberate attempt to derail Tulsi's presidential campaign."

By May 2020, Tulsi Gabbard's legal team withdrew the lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, citing a new focus in the wake of the pandemic. Her lawyers said: "While they remain certain of the action's legal merit, they are just as certain that this new COVID and post-COVID world would require to focus their time and attention on other priorities, including defeating Donald Trump in 2020, rather than righting the wrongs here" (via CNN). It remains tenuous whether Clinton's comment actually had any significant impact on her in the polls; Gabbard had never reached the 3% polling threshold needed to qualify for primary debates.

The case still simmered in Gabbard's mind. Four years later, in 2024, she revisited it in her book, "For Love of Country: Why I Left the Democratic Party." The Washington Post challenged her account, giving it three out of four Pinnochios. The paper stressed that while Clinton did suggest Gabbard was "backed by Russian bots," her team clarified with a day that she was talking about the GOP, and "a simple listen to the podcast confirmed" as much (via The Guardian). By the time the book hit shelves, Gabbard had ditched the Democrats and was reported to be a contender for Donald Trump's running mate. She defended the indicted former president 88 times on his many legal fronts in the memoir. Perhaps someone ought to throw the book at her, instead.