Tulsi Gabbard throws down gauntlet in Hillary Clinton feud, vows to undo Clinton's 'failed legacy'

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) took a direct shot at Hillary Clinton in the pages of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, arguing that she is the best-suited Democrat to defeat President Donald Trump and the "Clinton doctrine" next November.

"I'm running for president to undo Mrs. Clinton's failed legacy. From Iraq to Libya to Syria, her record is replete with foreign-policy catastrophes," Gabbard wrote. "It's a primary reason why I resigned as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 to endorse Bernie Sanders. Mrs. Clinton and the powerful media and political network she built up over decades have never forgiven this slight. The smears have been nonstop ever since."

Clinton ignited a public feud with Gabbard when she claimed the Democratic congresswoman is "the favorite of the Russians" who is being "groomed" as a third-party spoiler in next year's presidential election.

In her essay, Gabbard directly refuted Clinton's accusations.

"As a major in the National Guard who served in Iraq — one of the many disastrous regime-change wars Mrs. Clinton championed over her career — I swore an oath to only one authority: the U.S. Constitution," she wrote.

But Gabbard said the feud is more than a "petty spat." Rather, "it's a serious contrast in views about the choice voters face as they decide which Democratic candidate is best equipped to defeat President Trump. Mrs. Clinton already lost to Mr. Trump once," she said.

"Why would Democrats think a Hillary 2.0 candidate would result in anything different?" Gabbard posited. "Only when we recognize the failings of the past — embodied by Mrs. Clinton and her minions in the media — can we move forward to a future of peace, dignity, transparency and aloha."

It is not yet clear whether Clinton, the failed 2016 presidential candidate, will enter the 2020 race. She initially indicated that she had no interest in running again, but Democratic operatives close to Clinton recently revealed not only would Clinton enter the race should she envision a path to the White House — but she imagines a Trump rematch "all the time."