U.S. Rep Tulsi Gabbard received a scathing email from longtime Hillary Clinton supporters, including a former director of the Clinton Foundation, the day after she announced her resignation as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in February to endorse Bernie Sanders’ bid for the presidency.
In an email dated Feb. 29 and published Monday by WikiLeaks as part of a trove of emails that are believed to have been hacked from the account of John Podesta, Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, Gabbard is told that she has disrespected Clinton and not to expect any help raising campaign funds.
“We were very disappointed to hear that you would resign your position with the DNC so you could endorse Bernie Sanders, a man who has never been a Democrat before,” the email, signed by Darnell Strom and Michael Kives, begins. (Sanders had long been an independent, a status to which he has returned since losing the Democratic Party nomination.)
“When we met over dinner a couple of years ago I was so impressed by your intellect, your passion, and commitment to getting things done on behalf of the American people. For you to endorse a man who has spent almost 40 years in public office with very few accomplishments, doesn’t fall in line with what we previously thought of you,” the email continues. “Hillary Clinton will be our party’s nominee and you standing on ceremony to support the sinking Bernie Sanders ship is disrespectful to Hillary Clinton. A woman who has spent the vast majority of her life in public service and working on behalf of women, families, and the underserved.”
Strom worked as the millennium network director for the Clinton Foundation between 2006 and 2009, according to his LinkedIn account. Prior to that he assisted former President Bill Clinton with planning and scheduling business trips.
Kives is identified in media reports as a “bundler” for the Hillary Clinton campaign, a term used for someone who coordinates the solicitation of campaign donations.
Both work as agents for the Creative Artists Agency, a Los Angeles-based entertainment and sports agency.
Neither responded to emails and phone calls seeking comment.
To underscore their displeasure, Strom and Kives assure Gabbard that she won’t be benefiting in the future from their fundraising skills.
“You have called both myself and Michael Kives before about helping your campaign raise money, we no longer trust your judgment so will not be raising money for your campaign,” they write.
In an added flair, Kives forwards the email to longtime Clinton aid Huma Abedin and Podesta with the note, “Hammed dropped!” — apparently meaning to write hammer.
Gabbard, who offered up lukewarm support for Clinton in
August after Sanders lost the primary — saying she would vote for her “given the remaining choices” — declined to comment on the email.
But Gabbard, who represents the 2nd Congressional District (rural Oahu, neighbor islands), has alluded to pressure from the Clinton camp in the past.
In a March interview with CBS News, a reporter asked her whether she was worried about retaliation from the Clintons for supporting Sanders.
“The Clintons have had a well-oiled machine in Washington for years,” the reporter said. “Do you fear any retribution from the Clintons, and what has your relationship been like with her?”
Gabbard said she was aware of the political risk. At the time, she was one of only four members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support Sanders, who was considered a long shot for the nomination.
“I was heavily warned by people who care about me not to endorse Sen. Sanders because of that fear of retaliation. And look, that fear is something that exists in a lot of folks that I have heard from,” Gabbard responded. “There is far too much at stake here to stand on the sideline and let politics get in the way of what is real, and what is real is war and the cost of war.”
Gabbard, an Iraq War combat veteran who is serving her second term in Congress, has been critical of Clinton’s somewhat hawkish Middle East policies,
arguing against “interventionist wars of regime change.”
Neither Abedin nor Podesta
responded to questions about whether they supported sending the email to Gabbard or whether they thought it was an appropriate response to the congresswoman’s decision to support Sanders.