Hillary Clinton and Tulsi Gabbard
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Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard withdrew her lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a Wednesday court filing, citing more pressing concerns like defeating President Donald Trump.

The one-page filing by Gabbard's lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York stresses the "legal merit" of their case but notes current circumstances amid the coronavirus pandemic require Gabbard and her former presidential campaign organization "to focus their time and attention on other priorities, including defeating Donald Trump in 2020, rather than righting the wrongs here."

In the suit, Gabbard et al v. Clinton, Gabbard alleged Clinton had defamed her during the Democratic presidential primary for appearing to call the Hawaii congresswoman a "favorite of the Russians." Gabbard said Clinton sniped at her as "retribution" for Gabbard's endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Gabbard claimed she had suffered more than $50 million in damages as a result of Clinton's remarks.

Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill told USA TODAY in a written statement, "This was a publicity stunt through and through, and this filing makes that clear," adding "good riddance" in Russian.

Clinton kicked off a firestorm of controversy with her remarks in October 2019 on Democratic strategist David Plouffe's podcast in which she also said Republicans were "grooming" Gabbard.

The former Secretary of State was misquoted in several news outlets' stories about Clinton's remarks as saying the Russians were "grooming" Gabbard, causing the outlets to issue corrections about the quotation.

Gabbard denounced Clinton as the "queen of warmongers" for her comments.

The Hawaii member of Congress dropped out of the presidential race in March 2020 and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.