Failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton played a huge role in stirring up American hostility toward Russia over the past decade, even though she'd led efforts just a few years earlier as the secretary of state to "reset" diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Clinton was reminded of that undisputed fact by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after she snarkily accused the Trump administration of seeking to avoid hurting the "feelings" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Fox News.

The tired accusation of Trump-Russia collusion from Clinton came in relation to a dubious and anonymously sourced report that the Pentagon has flatly denied.

Clinton vs. Hegseth

On Sunday, Clinton shared on X a questionable report that claimed Sec. Hegseth had issued a "stand down" order to U.S. Cyber Command related to Russian cyber operations.

The former nominee, secretary, senator, and first lady added as a caption to the link, "Wouldn’t want to hurt Putin’s feelings."

In response to Clinton's post, Hegseth said nothing but posted a 2009 photo of then-Secretary of State Clinton joking and laughing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as she presented him with a "reset" button to symbolize the Obama administration's efforts to improve relations between Russia and the U.S.

pic.twitter.com/2W9Wp3LwR1

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 2, 2025

Of course, just a few years later, as then-Democratic nominee Clinton found herself facing off against President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, she and her campaign sparked a decade of controversy and damaging lies with false accusations of collusion between Trump and Russia that drastically undermined international relations and set the stage for clashes and conflict.

Report claims Hegseth halted cyber operations against Russia

The link that Clinton shared in her X post was a story from tech news site Gizmodo that cited anonymous sources who claimed that Sec. Hegseth and the Pentagon had deemed Russia to no longer pose a "significant" cyber threat to the U.S.

As such, the report asserted that Hegseth issued an order for U.S. Cyber Command to "stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions."

If those claims are true, it would represent a complete about-face in U.S. foreign policy toward Russia, which under the prior Democratic administration was treated as the nation's overarching enemy that allegedly posed the greatest threat to American security.

Defense official denies report

Except, according to Bloomberg News, an unnamed senior Defense official flatly denied the dubious report that Sec. Hegseth had ordered a halt to U.S. cyber operations against Russia as untrue.

The official insisted that not a single operation against Russian targets had been "canceled or delayed" and no "stand down" order had been issued, and further asserted that keeping U.S. troops and the nation safe from harm was the top priority of the administration and Defense Department.

In the end, it appears that the Gizmodo report and others like it are likely little more than "fake news" designed to push an overplayed "Russia bad" narrative that is overtly intended to undermine President Trump's efforts to promote peace and end the years-long war between Russia and Ukraine.