Bernie Sanders: ‘Outrageous’ to Suggest Tulsi Gabbard is ‘Foreign Asset’

2020 White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is defending fellow presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused her, without evidence, of being a Russian asset.

“Tulsi Gabbard has put her life on the line to defend this country. People can disagree on issues, but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset,” Sanders tweeted Monday evening.

Sanders joins 2020 Democrats Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson in expressing support for Gabbard in response to Clinton contending in a Friday interview that the congresswoman is “the favorite of the Russians,” who was being “groomed” by the Kremlin as a potential third-party candidate.

Appearing on a podcast hosted by David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign manager, the failed presidential candidate claimed:

[Russia] has a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting [Gabbard] so far. That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset.

They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate, and so I do not know who it’s going to be, but I can guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most need it.

Shortly later, Gabbard — a combat military veteran and Army National Guard Major — hit back at Clinton in a series of tweets, slamming her as the “queen of warmongers” and accusing her of being behind a New York Times hit piece published ahead of last Tuesday Democrat presidential debate in Westerville, Ohio:

Gabbard doubled down against Clinton in a video shared to Twitter on Sunday, warning that “if you stand up against Hillary and the party power brokers, if you stand up to the rich and powerful elite and the war machine, they will destroy you and discredit your message.”

“They will not intimidate us,” declared the lawmaker. “They will not silence us.”

President Donald Trump has also weighed in on Clinton’s claims against Gabbard, calling his former presidential rival “crazy” for her comments.

“So now Crooked Hillary is at it again! She is calling Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard “a Russian favorite,” and Jill Stein “a Russian asset,” the president tweeted on Saturday. “As you may have heard, I was called a big Russia lover also (actually, I do like Russian people. I like all people!). Hillary’s gone Crazy!” the president tweeted on Saturday.