CNN political commentator Van Jones said Friday that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida Hillicon Valley: Productivity, fatigue, cybersecurity emerge as top concerns amid pandemic | Facebook critics launch alternative oversight board | Google to temporarily bar election ads after polls close Trump pledges to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, designate KKK a terrorist group in pitch to Black voters MORE was “playing a very dangerous game” by suggesting that Russia was grooming 2020 Democratic hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardRepublicans call on DOJ to investigate Netflix over 'Cuties' film Hispanic Caucus campaign arm endorses slate of non-Hispanic candidates Gabbard says she 'was not invited to participate in any way' in Democratic convention MORE (D-Hawaii) to launch a third-party presidential bid.

“If you’re concerned about disinformation … that is what just happened. Just throw out some information, disinformation, smear somebody,” Jones told CNN host Erin Burnett on Friday night while responding to the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee's remarks.

“She is Hillary Clinton. She’s a legend. She’s going to be in the history books. She’s a former nominee of our party, and she just came out against a sitting U.S. congresswoman, a decorated war veteran and somebody who’s running for the nomination of our party with just a complete smear and no facts,” he said.

"I do not want somebody of her stature to legitimate these attacks against anybody," Jones continued. "If you’ve got real evidence, come forward with it. But if you’re just going to smear people casually on podcasts, you are playing right into the Russians' hands."

Van Jones says Hillary Clinton smeared Tulsi Gabbard “with no facts” & adds Tulsi is getting “payback hell” for quitting DNC & backing Bernie in 2016 pic.twitter.com/jzGdmLMJzL — Ibrahim (@ibrahimpols) October 19, 2019

In a Friday interview on the podcast “Campaign HQ,” the former secretary of State warned that the Russian government was poised to once again meddle in the U.S. presidential election in 2020 through online disinformation efforts and by encouraging a third-party challenger to cause chaos in the contest.

ADVERTISEMENT

In an apparent reference to Gabbard, Clinton said, “She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. And that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset.”

Later Friday, Gabbard fired back, attacking Clinton as the “queen of warmongers” and “personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.”

"From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you," she said, challenging Clinton to join the 2020 Democratic primary instead of "cowardly hid[ing] behind your proxies."

Some Democrats previously raised concerns that Gabbard, a member of the Hawaii National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, has been amplified online by what they believe to be bot activity, though the speculation has remained unfounded.