South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg ducked questions Sunday morning about Hillary Clinton’s accusation that fellow candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset.
Jake Tapper asked Buttigieg how he felt about Clinton’s comments on the Campaign HQ podcast that the Hawaii Democrat was a “favorite of the Russians” and was an asset being groomed as a third party candidate to undermine the Democratic candidate in the 2020 election.
Buttigieg declined to say whether he thought Gabbard was involved with the Russians and shifted instead to campaign talking points. “I’d prefer to have the conversation be about policy, about what we’re going to do, and about how American lives are going to be different,” he said. “When it comes to any of my Democratic competitors, that’s my focus.”
Pushing Buttigieg back to the original question, Tapper asked, “Right, but do you think Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset?”
“I don’t know what the basis is for that,” Buttigieg said. “I consider her to be a competitor … Our focus right now needs to be on the things that are actually undermining America.” He then proceeded to decry President Trump as corrupt and condemned his remarks that Democrats need to “get over it.”
Fellow Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke condemned Clinton’s accusations against Gabbard, saying simply that Clinton’s remarks were “not correct.”
“Tulsi is not being groomed by anyone,” O’Rourke said Saturday. “She’s her own person, obviously has served this country and continues to serve this country in uniform, in Congress, as a candidate for the presidency. And so, I think those facts speak for themselves.”
Tapper eventually conceded to Buttigieg’s refusal to answer. “An agile pivot from Mayor Pete Buttigieg,” he said, before switching to the next segment.
