You don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes to figure out to whom the loser of the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, was referring when she stated on a recent podcast that one of the candidates in the 2020 Democrat primary was being "groomed" by the Russians to be a third-party candidate.
The field was narrowed down even more when Hillary stated that "She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."
Therefore she must have been referring to a female candidate. So did she mean Amy Klobuchar? Naw. Kamala Harris? Nope. Elizabeth Warren? Definitely not. Marianne Williamson? Not unless the Russkies take New Age crystal gazers seriously. So that leaves only one... Tulsi Gabbard. BINGO!
As a result, Van Jones on Friday's Erin Burnett OutFront slammed Hillary as "playing a very dangerous game" for making that allegation without any proof.
VAN JONES: She's playing a very dangerous game. Hillary Clinton, if you're concerned about this information and to spread disinformation, that is what just happened, just throw out some information, disinformation, smear somebody.
She is Hillary Clinton. She's a legend. She's going to be in the history books and she's a former nominee of our party and she just came out against a sitting U.S. congresswoman, a decorated war veteran and someone running for the nomination of our party with a complete smear and no facts.
BURNETT: She called her a Russian asset as a fact. And as you point out, a sitting U.S. congresswoman.
Maybe it is because Hillary needs yet another excuse why she lost due to the Russians.
JONES: A sitting U.S. congresswoman.
Now, this is not -- this is a very, very dangerous game, and there is a back story and there are two sides to every story. Let's not forget, Tulsi Gabbard was picked out by the Democratic Party and put at the top of the DNC. They thought she was going to be their golden girl.
And she got that position and she looked around and saw Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other people, Clinton allies, doing stuff they shouldn't be doing in the primary and Tulsi publicly quit and endorsed Bernie Sanders, and it's been payback hell ever since
BURNETT: And that's why we are here.
JONES: Payback hell ever since.
Hmm... So if Hillary blames Gabbard for her 2016 loss due to endorsing Bernie Sanders then, yeah, "payback hell" in the form of the "Russian asset" accusation.
BURNETT: You know, Gabbard responded with a tweet storm.
She says: Thank you, Hillary Clinton, you, 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. From the day I announced my candidacy, there's been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why.
Now, we know it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. It's now clear this primary is between you and me. Don't cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.
JONES: It's getting kind of hot -- it's getting kind of hot and this is the problem. You know, we're headed down this spiral staircase. You had Pelosi and Trump, you had the big blow up there, whoever you blame, you can't be proud of America when you have food fights breaking out in the White House between the top leadership. We can't be proud when we can't have a primary without the former nominee jumping out of a podcast, throwing aspersions and tweet war.
This -- we got real problems in America, and I'm telling you, Hillary Clinton is playing a very dangerous game. I do not want someone of her stature to legitimate these kinds of attacks against anybody. If you got real evidence, come forward with it. If you're just going to smear people casually on podcasts, you are playing right into the Russians' hands.
Getting kind of hot? That seems to be an understatement. And judging by what is going on at Twitter it is becoming even hotter. At the end of the segment, a screen message revealed that "Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill backed away from the former secretary of state's allegation . Merrill tweeted, "She doesn't say the Russians are grooming anyone. It was a question about Republicans."
Many of the folks on Twitter weren't buying Merrill's lame excuse.
Then why did YOU confirm @HillaryClinton meant @TulsiGabbard !! “Asked if the former secretary of state was referring to Gabbard, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said, "If the nesting doll fits..." https://t.co/Zws88Myz3i
— elisabeth (@5secondsmedia_) October 19, 2019
"Folks, listen to the podcast" translates to "By telling them to listen to the podcast, that makes me look credible enough for establishment voters to not listen to the podcast."
— Matthew Embrey (@embrey_matthew) October 19, 2019
Sorry, Nick. It isn't 2016 anymore. You are 100% lying here.
Yup! This is definitely going to get a lot hotter.
