And by “some” she clearly means Joy Behar and Sonny Hostin. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard appeared on the View today and was asked by Whoopi Goldberg to comment on Ambassador Sondland’s update to his impeachment testimony yesterday. Rather than answer that question, Gabbard said she wanted to first talk about something else.

” I want to start with something that I think is also important about facts because recently on your show here…” Gabbard began.

“I was just going to get to that,” Joy Behar interjected.

“Good, helping you out,” Gabbard replied. She continued, “Look, some of you have accused me of being a traitor to my country, a Russian asset, a Trojan horse…”

“We haven’t accused you,” Behar said.

“A useful idiot was, I think, the term that you used, which basically means that I’m naive or lack intelligence,” Gabbard said, looking directly at Behar.

“But that’s a Russian term. They use that,” Behar muttered.

Before we continue with the exchange that happened today, it’s worth pointing out that two weeks ago when the story about Clinton’s claim Gabbard was a Russian asset became news, view co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar did in fact call her a Trojan horse and suggest Hillary was probably right about her being a Russian asset because Hillary had been right about everything else. “She hasn’t denied it,” Behar said of Gabbard at the time. Here’s a clip from two weeks ago:

So it makes sense that today Gabbard made a big point of denying it.

“I want to let your viewers know exactly who I am,” Gabbard said. “Set the record straight. I am a patriot. I love our country. I am a strong and intelligent woman of color and I have dedicated almost my entire adult life the safety, security, and the freedom of all Americans in this country. It was the attacks on 9/11…”

Gabbard couldn’t finish her sentence before Behar started rolling out the left’s talking points. “Well, I guess we’re getting a little bit far ahead of ourselves, but Franklin Graham finds uh-you refreshing,” she said. Reading from her notes, Behar added, “The white nationalist leader says he can vote for you. You were on ‘Tucker Carlson’ at least ten times. Why didn’t you go on Chris Wallace?”

“This is why I’m here. Because you and other people continue to spread these innuendos that have nothing to do with who I am,” Gabbard said.

Behar continued her attack but Gabbard replied, “You doubled down — unfortunately you doubled down on the baseless accusations that she made that strikes at the core of who I am.”

At that point the View played the audio of Clinton’s claim that Gabbard was being groomed for a third party run and was a Russian asset.

“Really? I mean this is outrageous. This is outrageous and offensive on so many levels,” Gabbard said. “I’ve served as a member of Congress for almost seven years, receiving high-level national security and intelligence briefings, serving on the foreign affairs committee, the armed services committee, the homeland security committee, working to ensure the safety and security of the people of this country.”

The discussion continued for another minute. Finally, Gabbard wrapped up the discussion saying rather than debate her on the issues, Hillary and others were seeking to smear her and simultaneous send a message to others: “Toe the line or you will be smeared.”

As I’ve said previously, there’s plenty of room to criticize Gabbard views on foreign policy, particularly her willingness to meet with Syria’s Bashar al Assad, but that doesn’t change the fact that what Clinton said was a paranoid smear with no basis in reality. The fact that Gabbard spent most of six minutes defending herself shows that Hillary Clinton can still throw slime at her enemies. In fact, it’s all she can do these days.

Here’s the full exchange: