Hillary Clinton's Bay Area book tour clouded by Tulsi Gabbard controversy
DANVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- Hillary Clinton brought the sold-out crowd to their feet as she entered the auditorium at San Ramon Valley High in Danville Sunday evening. The former Secretary of State was barely visible through the cloud of cell phones recording her every word.
"Everybody says be yourself, and you want to be yourself, but you also want to get something done," said the former Democratic presidential nominee.
Clinton was in town to discuss her new work, "The Book of Gutsy Women," which she co-wrote with her daughter Chelsea Clinton.
"So many of my most treasured memories from my childhood are the stories that my mother shared with me, as important to her," said Chelsea, who explained that she and her mother had Chelsea's three children in mind while writing the book.
The conversation was largely about the 103 women featured in the book. But those gutsy ladies also lead to discussions about gun control and immigration.
"We can have a secure border and a smart immigration policy, which we must, without separating and caging children," said Secretary Clinton to a room full of applause.
One thing Clinton did not talk about was her unexpected feud with 2020 democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard.
In a podcast last week with David Plouffe, a former aide to President Barack Obama, Clinton suggested Russian influence in the primary, though she offered no evidence.
"I think they've got their eye on somebody who's currently in the democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She's the favorite of the Russians," said Clinton.
Congresswoman Gabbard believed she was the target of the attack. So, she fired back on Twitter, calling Clinton corrupt and a warmonger.
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"If they can falsely portray me as a traitor, then they can do it to anyone," said Gabbard in a video she posted to Twitter on Sunday.
A few Trump supporters waited outside Sunday's book event to weigh-in on Clinton's comments.
"She goes out there and tells stories about people that aren't true, take Tulsi Gabbard for instance. She's saying she's a Russian agent, I mean that's just not true," said Kevin Mszanowski, who says he's visiting the Bay Area from Scottsdale, Arizona.
Even some Clinton supporters were hoping for some answers on the political drama.
"I came here thinking about the Tulsi Gabbard situation and how she's going to address that," said Melanie Wegner, from Tiburon.
But most of Clinton's fans were not surprised or disappointed that Gabbard and the election were not on the book tour agenda.
"I came to hear about the mother and her daughter and the book," said Peggy Francis of Danville.
