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In a recent podcast, Hillary Clinton stated:

"They are also going to do third party again. I'm not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. "

"She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That's assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset."

source

Why is it the consensus that Hillary was referring to Tulsi Gabbard? Based on the available evidence, I see no reason to assume Gabbard over someone like Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris.

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    ? How is this off-topic?
    – Stormblessed
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 21:23
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    @Stormblessed i'd say this could be off topic because its asking "did X happen" - it involves a politician but its up for debate as to whether that automatically makes a quesiton political. i'd say this question would've been a better fit for Skeptics SE
    – Alex Robinson
    Commented Oct 29, 2019 at 11:11

2 Answers 2

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NBC has the order of events/statements a bit more clearly outlined

In a recent interview, Clinton didn't mention Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii by name, but said she believes one candidate is "the favorite of the Russians." Asked if the former secretary of state was referring to Gabbard, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said, "If the nesting doll fits..." He later tweeted that Clinton was referring to the GOP grooming Gabbard, not Russians.

The original answer of Clinton also said

They're also going to do third party. I'm not making any predictions, but I think they've got their eye on somebody who's currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She's the favorite of the Russians, they have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far, and that's assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not, because she's also a Russian asset. Yeah, she's a Russian asset, I mean totally. They know they can't win without a third party candidate.

So at least Clinton called Stein a Russian asset explicitly. I don't think Clinton [or her spokesperson(s)] explicitly backtracked on the latter claim (about Stein), but I could be wrong.

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    ABC has audio of the orignal Clinton speech abcn.ws/32D45PG
    – Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 8:41
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    she's also a Russian asset. Had that been Trump who said that, there would be no ambiguity of what that means.
    – dan-klasson
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:29
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    @dan-klasson First off, there's also ambiguity when Trump speaks because his language is so muddled it can't help but create ambiguity. "[s]he's also a Russian asset" is a parsing that makes a lot of sense if PurpleThinker's answer is correct.
    – Michael W.
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 15:43
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    Given how easy it is for Gabbard to actually become, by all informed consensus, a Russian agent, it's hardly unreasonable for Clinton and her advisors to jump the gun a bit. Certainly, if the alternative to Gabbard being a Russian agent is for Clinton and her people to be retailing childish and idiotic conspiracy theories, then Gabbard is just going to have to be a Russian agent, and that's that. Identifying another Russian agent is a huge win for national security, too. People should relax about this.
    – Ed Plunkett
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 17:05
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    @EdPlunkett: see politics.stackexchange.com/questions/47174/… if you want delve on that.
    – Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 17:06
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From Politico's "Clinton says Russia is backing Gabbard":

“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary and they’re grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said in an interview for Plouffe’s Campaign HQ podcast. “She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far and that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up because she’s also a Russian asset.”

Later, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said that it was Tulsi Gabbard who Clinton was referring to. There were also corrections in various news sources that, although she said "Russia," she actually meant "Republicans." It may be possible she was referring to speculation that Trump and politicians who support him have leanings toward Russia (since Trump has often defended Russia even when government intelligence agencies have said Russia was responsible for meddling in the 2016 elections). In that sense, Russia would be equated with Republicans.

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    "even when government intelligence agencies have said Russia was responsible for meddling " - LOL - at least you did not write trusted government intelligence agencies
    – paulj
    Commented Oct 29, 2019 at 11:48

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