Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said Sunday that she does not regret her 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of using chemical weapons to attack civilians in the country’s years-long civil war. Gabbard, a 2020 presidential candidate, has previously drawn criticism for voicing skepticism that the Assad regime was behind the chemical weapons attacks. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether she regrets the meeting, Gabbard said she did not, drawing a comparison between her sit-down with Assad and President Trump’s summit last year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “I have seen this cost of war firsthand, which is why I fight so hard for peace,” said Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran. “Both sides have completely hardened their positions and are unwilling to come together and work out the differences, and that’s the problem here,” Gabbard said.

Source: Washington Post January 20, 2019 19:41 UTC