MSNBC host Joy Reid and New York Times writer Wajahat Ali floated the idea that Russian bots are boosting Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s presidential bid on Twitter.
“Beware the Russian bots and their promotion of Tulsi Gabbard and sowing racial dischord [sic], especially around Kamala Harris,” said Ali, who contributes both to the Times and CNN.
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“It is notable that her purpose in these debates has been specifically to take Harris down,” Reid responded to Ali’s tweet.
It is notable that her purpose in these debates has been specifically to take Harris down.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 1, 2019
In February, NBC issued a report on Gabbard’s campaign that claimed she had “become a favorite of the sites Moscow used when it interfered in 2016.”
The 2020 hopeful has received criticism for meeting with Russian-backed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in 2017.
After the Democratic primary debate Wednesday, Gabbard called Sen. Kamala Harris’ accusations that she was an Assad apologist a “cheap smear.” She added she believed Assad was a torturer and murderer.
After the first presidential debate in June, Gabbard claimed that Google censored her campaign, for which reason she is suing the company for $50 million. After the second debate, she was the most Googled Democratic candidate in the field.
Gabbard is currently tied for ninth place in the Democratic presidential primary with 1% support in the polls, according to RealClearPolitics.
