Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has filed a defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton for claiming that she was a “Russian asset.”

According to The Daily Wire:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) announced Wednesday morning that she has filed a defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton for the former secretary of state’s claims that Gabbard is a “Russian asset.”

In a press release published to Gabbard’s presidential election campaign website, Gabbard claimed Clinton “deliberately and maliciously made false statements in an attempt to derail Rep. Gabbard’s campaign.” Clinton made the remarks about Gabbard during an October 17, 2019 interview, saying, “somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary … [is a] favorite of the Russians… Yeah, she’s a Russian asset.”

Gabbard’s press release notes that after Clinton’s comments, the media “extensively republished and disseminated these statements, which were interpreted widely as Clinton asserting that Gabbard is a Russian asset.”

In the lawsuit itself, Gabbards attorneys at Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP allege that Clinton possibly made the remarks “out of personal animus, political enmity, or fear of real change within a political party Clinton and her allies have long dominated.” They allege Clinton lied about Gabbard “publicly, unambiguously, and with obvious malicious intent” and that the claims have harmed Gabbard.

A powerful line in the lawsuit claims that Hillary Clinton is “a cutthroat politician by any account.”