Hillary Clinton has backed out of a Friday appearance at an event also scheduled to include Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, among other guests, according to a report.
Word of Clinton’s removal from the bill of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit came Thursday, the same day the former secretary of state sparked a clash by accusing Gabbard of being groomed by Russia to run as a third-party candidate for president in 2020.
The Hawaii congresswoman and combat veteran fired back in a scathing series of tweets later Thursday, challenging Clinton not to “hide behind your proxies” and join the presidential race “directly.”
Slate.com reported that Clinton removed herself from the three-day summit due to a scheduling conflict. An unnamed source told the publication that Clinton decided not to participate in an act of protest against former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was also scheduled to speak.
Nielsen, who resigned in April, oversaw the Trump administration’s controversial “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which resulted in the separation of thousands of migrant children from their families at the border. The policy was later rescinded.
More than 51,000 people signed a petition asking Fortune to pull Nielsen from the summit’s roster, Slate also reported. About 100 speakers were still scheduled to attend the summit as of Friday evening. – READ MORE