Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is warning about legal action against Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann for accusing her of being a Russian operative who has committed treason.
Romney followed in Hillary Clinton’s footsteps, claiming that the veteran was pro-Russia. Gabbard is now taking legal action against Romney for defamation.
Romney tweeted on March 13:
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.”
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022
The move comes after Romney took aim at Gabbard, saying she was pushing Russian propaganda after she made controversial comments about the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The alleged propaganda from Gabbard was in the form of her speaking out against United States-funded Biolabs in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the former representative defended herself when she spoke to Fox News host Tucker Carlson:
“I still serve in the U.S. Army reserves today. I’m a lieutenant colonel, and 19 years ago when I enlisted in the military, I took an oath to support and defend our Constitution.”
“When powerful and influential people basically threaten and intimidate people into silence as Mitt Romney … [is] doing, they’re hoping to achieve that effect that if anybody dares speak out against the government … [or] criticize whatever the washed, permanent Washington establishment narrative is, then you will be smeared … as a treasonous traitor.”
When powerful, influential people make baseless accusations of treason, a crime punishable by death, in order to intimidate, silence and censor those who speak the truth, it has a chilling effect on our democracy. This cannot go unchecked. https://t.co/evoefpc0Yd
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) April 20, 2022
Newsweek reported that the cease and desist letter from her attorneys accused Romney of “false and defamatory statements” and asked Romney to settle with gabbard before litigation.
“While your tweet lacked any context, we surmise that your tweet was made in reference to a video Representative Gabbard published on Twitter that same day,” the letter said.
“In her video, Representative Gabbard called for a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine so that any biological laboratories in Ukraine could be secured,” it said.
Tulsi Gabbard says she sent cease and desist letters to Mitt Romney and Keith Olbermann after she was called a traitor. pic.twitter.com/mcrapG1PnB
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 21, 2022
Newsweek explained:
Ukrainian Biolabs has been at the center of an unfounded conspiracy theory that claimed the Biden administration was funding biological weapons labs in the country.
The U.S. has funded Biolabs in Ukraine but not the development of biological weapons. Claims about U.S. funding for bioweapons in Ukraine have been promoted by Russian state media amid the country’s ongoing invasion of its neighbor.
Gabbard, who represented Hawaii’s 2nd district from 2013 to 2021, did not claim that the U.S. was funding bioweapons labs in Ukraine in her March 13 video.
She also said that Biolabs, biological weapons labs, and bioweapons were “very different things” in a subsequent tweet on March 14 and wrote that “there is sometimes miscommunication and misunderstanding when discussing them.”
The letter from the attorneys stated:
“Representative Gabbard’s loyalty to the United States is beyond reproach. You knew your claims of treason were false, or, at a minimum, you made your claims of treason with reckless disregard for the truth.”
The attorneys requested a settlement that includes “retraction and apology, and other terms to be mutually negotiated.” They have given Sen. Romney until April 27 to respond.
Sources: Conservativebrief, Newsweek
