Rep. Tulsi Gabbard dropped her $50 million defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton Wednesday over the latter’s comments suggesting the Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii was “a Russian asset.”
Gabbard filed suit after Hillary said in an October 2019 interview that one of the Democrat presidential contenders was “the favorite of the Russians” and a “Russian asset.” Gabbard, a presidential candidate at the time, wasn’t mentioned by name, but Hillary’s spokesman later said, “If the nesting doll fits…,” referring to the popular Russian dolls.
The lawsuit argued that Hillary had no “no basis for making her false assertions” and that she was furious at Gabbard’s endorsement of then-candidate Bernie Sanders over Hillary in the 2016 Democratic primary.
“While they remain certain of the action’s legal merit, they are just as certain that this new COVID and post-COVID world require them to focus their time and attention on other priorities, including defeating Donald Trump in 2020, rather than righting the wrongs here,” Gabbard’s attorneys stated in the dismissal.