Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in Washington and author of the book "The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness." Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Here's a 2020 election story I didn't see coming: Hillary Clinton suggesting that Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset, and Gabbard, who is polling at just over 1%, responding by saying Clinton is secretly running against her for president and that "it's now clear that this primary is between you and me."

Jill Filipovic

It was obviously a mistake for Clinton to say what she did. She may not have used Gabbard's name, but she said that one candidate was "a favorite of the Russians," implied that she's an asset, and said that the candidate (clearly Gabbard), was prepping for a third-party spoiler run.

She may be right on the last point, and one can hope that this takes some of the wind out of Gabbard's third-party sails, if she is indeed mulling such a thing. Still, it's not great for American democracy when former secretaries of state are running around accusing congresswomen of working for the Russians.

The pedants among the pundits will point out that Clinton didn't say Gabbard was working for the Russians, that there's a difference between being an agent and being an asset. An asset is simply someone the Russians think they can compromise or exploit for their benefit, and on that front, Gabbard may fit the bill.

She uses Kremlin talking points on Syria, repeating the RT-approved phrase "regime change war" nine times in the last Democratic debate.