On CNN’s OutFront Friday, host Van Jones stated that failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s recent podcast attack on 2020 White House contender Tulsi Gabbard — suggesting Gabbard is a Russian asset being groomed as a third-party spoiler candidate — is a “smear” that is “playing right into the Russians’ hands.”
“She’s playing a very dangerous game,” Jones warned. “I mean, Hillary Clinton, if you’re concerned about disinformation, if you’re concerned — what the Russians do is they spread disinformation, they get us divided against each other. That is what just happened, just throw out some information — disinformation, smear somebody.”
“Hillary Clinton’s playing a very dangerous game,” he later reiterated. “If you’ve got real evidence, come forward with it. But if you’re just going to smear people casually on podcasts, you are playing right into the Russians’ hands.”
The independent-minded Gabbard has been seen as a threat by other candidates in her party as well.