What grounds is there here for legal action?
“Cutthroat politician.” Guess what, most politicians in national office (not to mention having done time in Little Rock) are cutthroat. And it’s not illegal to be a cutthroat politician. Gabbard ought to know.
“Lost in surprise upsets.” And that is a cause for what kind of action? Even if Hillary comments (factually) that she lost to Putin, not Trump?
“Holds long time grudges.” That one covers a lot of real estate.
Obviously, she’s taking advice from Putin’s lawyers, who don’t realize that unlike the case in Russia, libel actions in the US (a) exclude attacks on public figures based on their public behavior (thus, it is very hard to go after anyone to begin with), (b) needs to show actual malice (good luck), and — bing, bing, bing, bing! — truth is an absolute defense! None of these have historically applied in Putin’s political sphere.