Democrat darling of the alt-right sues Hillary Clinton for $75m

As Donald Trump’s impeachment battle limps towards the finish, a more energised brawl is entertaining Washington watchers.

Tulsi Gabbard snowboards with supporters in North Conway, New Hampshire. Picture: AP

As Donald Trump’s impeachment battle limps towards the finish, a more energised brawl is entertaining Washington watchers.

Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaiian congresswoman running as a long-shot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is suing Hillary Clinton for defamation after the former first lady suggested that she was a Russian “asset”. She is seeking $US50m ($75m) in damages.

Ms Gabbard, an army veteran who has twice served in the Middle East, has tried to shoot down accusations that she launched the lawsuit to breathe life into her flagging campaign.

“I’ve put my life on the line for this country, and what Hillary Clinton has done is to try to take away the essence of my life by calling into question my loyalties to my country that I love, that I’m willing to die for,” she said.

Ms Gabbard is a controversial, curious figure. Her isolationist foreign policy views, in particular, have won her a varied group of supporters, including an online following of alt-right fans, some of whom, bizarrely, call her “Mommy”.

Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former chief strategist, is a prominent champion and she was forced to reject the support of David Duke, the white nationalist leader. The only Hindu member of congress, she grew up in Hawaii in an obscure religious sect called the Science of Identity Foundation, but has disavowed the anti-abortion, anti-same-sex-marriage views she once held.

She supported the socialist Bernie Sanders over Mrs Clinton in the primary race in 2016.

“She’s not forgotten that,” Ms Gabbard said. “Those, like myself, who are challenging the warmongering foreign policy establishment in Washington, challenging the policy of wasting lives and taxpayer dollars on regime-change wars that don’t make us any safer, it scares them so they’re doing whatever they can to silence us.”

The row with Mrs Clinton was triggered when the former secretary of state gave an extraordinary podcast interview last October. “I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s in the Democratic primary and they’re grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” she said.

“She’s the favourite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”

Asked if Mrs Clinton was referring to Ms Gabbard, her spokesman later said: “If the nesting doll fits ...” in a reference to Russian dolls.

On Twitter, Ms Gabbard, 38, then blasted Mrs Clinton, 72, as the “queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party”.

Now, she has upped the ante. On Thursday, papers were served and a court date has reportedly been set for next month.

“If she and her powerful allies can successfully destroy my reputation even though I’m a war veteran and a sitting member of congress they can do it to anyone,” Ms Gabbard said.

With the Iowa caucuses opening the primary campaign on Tuesday (AEDT ), Ms Gabbard has focused on New Hampshire, snowboarding with voters, visiting opioid recovery centres and holding endless public meetings.

The Granite State, which goes to the polls on February 11, allows unaffiliated voters to take part in the process, which could help her.

Ms Gabbard is full of fighting talk as the Democratic race reaches crunch point. But what about beating Clinton in court? “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t confident that we had a very strong case.”

The Sunday Times