Tulsi Gabbard.Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty
Gabbard, 41, made the claims in the debut episode of her new show,The Tulsi Gabbard Show, which was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday and is devoted to her reasoning behind leaving the party.
Emails sent to Gabbard regarding her new political affiliation were not immediately answered.
“If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me,” she said.
Gabbard has promoted conspiracy theories before, such as earlier this year, when she shared false information aboutAmerican involvement in Ukraine biological laboratories(a theory pro-Russian groups were using as justification for the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine).
Gabbard represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. She made headlines when she launched a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, often breaking from the party when it came to issues such as American relations with Russia.
Gabbard has written pro-Russia tweets even amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine, but her apparent friendliness toward the country didn’t earn her much support from her former party during her 2020 bid for the presidency.
Scott Eisen/Getty
Speaking on a podcast at the time,Hillary Clintondescribed one Democratic candidate as an “asset” for Russia, though she did not name any names.
“I’m not making any predictions, but I think [the Russians have] got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said on former Obama adviser David Plouffe’s podcast. “She’s the favorite of the Russians.”
Responding ina series of tweetsfollowing Clinton’s remarks, Gabbard — who supported Sen.Bernie Sandersover Clinton in the lead up to the 2016 election — fired back at the accusation, labeling Clinton a “warmonger” and the “personification of rot.”
source: people.com
