The Secret Service blocked a server from alerting Hillary Clinton about the lawsuit filed against her by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, according to the Hawaii congresswoman’s attorney.
Gabbard, 38, filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Clinton, 72, last week after the former secretary of state insinuated she was a “Russian asset.” The lawsuit got a lot of attention, but Clinton reportedly still hasn’t been served with the paperwork because she refused to let the server through Secret Service.
Brian Dunne, Gabbard’s attorney, told the New York Post that the person trying to serve the lawsuit was first turned away from Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, New York, by Secret Service agents and told to serve the lawsuit to the former first lady’s attorney, David Kendall. Williams & Connolly, the Washington, D.C.-based law firm that employs Kendall, then told the server that they could not accept the lawsuit on Clinton’s behalf.
“I find it rather unbelievable that Hillary Clinton is so intimidated by Tulsi Gabbard that she won’t accept service of process,” Dunne said. “But I guess here we are.”
Clinton’s remarks about Gabbard angered many who felt she crossed a line by claiming the Kremlin was “grooming” Gabbard to run a third-party bid that could sink Democrats and lead to reelection for President Trump. Sen. Bernie Sanders called Clinton’s comments “outrageous.” Facing backlash, Clinton claimed she meant the GOP was “grooming Tulsi, not Russia.”
Gabbard, who is running to be the Democratic nominee for president, jabbed Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign in the text of the lawsuit, which read, “Tulsi Gabbard is running for president of the United States, a position Clinton has long coveted, but has not been able to attain.”
