Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) says she sent a cease and desist letter to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) after he accused her of spreading treasonous lies.
During a segment of his show Thursday night, host Tucker Carlson noted that in March, Romney accused the former Congresswoman of spreading “treasonous lies” by raising concerns about allegations that the U.S. was funding bio-labs in Ukraine that were studying deadly pathogens.
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022
Additionally, commentator Keith Olberman shared a segment from “The View” where the co-hosts suggested Gabbard and Carlson should be investigated for their comments about Russia.
He wrote, “They are Russian assets and there is a war. There’s a case for detaining them militarily. Trials are a sign of good faith and patience on the part of democracy.”
They are Russian Assets and there is a war. There's a case for detaining them militarily. Trials are a sign of good faith and patience on the part of democracy.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 14, 2022
Carlson noted on Thursday that “this kind of stuff flies around the internet and most people kind of shrug it off.”
“But Tulsi Gabbard doesn’t seem like she’s going to. She’s on the verge of taking legal action against both Mitt Romney and Keith Olberman,” he added.
After pointing out that she is in lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Gabbard said, “If Mitt Romney had read the Constitution, he would know that treason — the crime that he is accusing me of that is punishable by death — is so serious that our founders deemed it to be the only crime worthy of being defined in our Constitution.”
Watch the video below:
Tulsi Gabbard says she sent cease and desist letters to Mitt Romney and Keith Olbermann after she was called a traitor. pic.twitter.com/mcrapG1PnB
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 21, 2022
“So the situation that we’re facing here is a very serious one,” she continued. “Not because it’s about me, but because it has a much bigger impact on our country.”
Gabbard added, “When powerful and influential people basically threaten and intimate people into silence… they are hoping to achieve that effect that if anybody dares speak out against the government, that if anybody dares to criticize whatever the permanent Washington establishment’s narrative is, then you will be smeared as a treasonous traitor.”
The former Congresswoman questioned why Romney accused her of “treason” without providing evidence to back up his claim.
Finally, Carlson asked Gabbard how she “might react to this.”
“We’ll see, we’ve sent out these cease and desist letters to both Sen. Romney as well as Keith Olberman,” Gabbard responded.
She continued, “And frankly, Tucker, it’s in the hopes that they will recognize — it’s giving them the opportunity to tell the American people, ‘You know what, on second thought, we understand how serious this crime of treason is we’ll apologize and we’ll make sure that this doesn’t happen again.'”
“Because if we love our country, we care about our democracy, we care about free speech, the last thing that anyone with a platform should want to do is to create this chilling effect where people are afraid to express their views,” Gabbard added.
