When asked whether Syrian President Bashar Assad is an enemy of the United States, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard responded, “No.” | Win McNamee/Getty Images Foreign Policy Gabbard refuses to say if Assad is a U.S. adversary

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday declined to identify Syrian President Bashar Assad as an adversary of the U.S., doubling down on a 2017 meeting she had with the strongman whose military is engaged in a civil war with U.S.-backed rebels.

Questioned about her stance on Assad by NBC News’ Kasie Hunt, Gabbard, one of Hawaii’s two House members, said Assad is not an enemy of the U.S. because, she said, he does not pose an immediate threat to the country. Pressed repeatedly, Gabbard declined to say whether Assad is a U.S. adversary, telling Hunt that “you can describe it however you want to describe it.”


She also said her meeting with Assad, which drew criticism in light of the Syrian leader’s record of human rights violations, was important in “the pursuit of peace.”

Gabbard had invited Syrian Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed, co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, as her guest to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday. The move was a jab at Trump’s plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, which some have argued could expose Kurds in the country to Turkish aggression.

“She recognized why I met with him and agreed with that meeting,” Gabbard said of Ahmed. “Because she knows how important it is that we be willing to meet with adversaries or potential adversaries, not just our friends, if we are serious about the pursuit of peace.”

Asked whether Assad is an enemy of the United States, Gabbard responded, “No,” and would not clarify whether she thinks he is an adversary of the U.S.

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“My point is that whether it is Syria or any of these other countries, we need to look at how their interests are counter to or aligned with ours,” Gabbard explained.

“Are Assad’s interests aligned with ours?” Hunt asked, to which Gabbard replied, “What are Assad’s interests?”

“Assad seems interested in the slaughter, primarily, of his own people. How does that line up?” Hunt said.

Asked whether she thinks Assad is a “good person,” Gabbard laughed and said: “No, I don’t.”

Gabbard said she ultimately does not want U.S. troops in Syria and that she is not interested in regime change and nation-building on the model of U.S. efforts in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gabbard has also expressed skepticism about the Assad regime’s widely reported and confirmed use of chemical weapons against its own people. As an Iraq veteran, Gabbard said, she wants solid evidence before weapons of mass destruction are used to justify intervention, citing the false reports of WMD in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Gabbard said Wednesday she does believe chemical weapons were used in Syria.

Gabbard’s position on Syria has raised eyebrows as more in line with the policy of Russia, a close ally of the Assad regime, than of the U.S. government. Her stances have been lauded by Russian outlets, NBC News reported, while most Democrats have unhesitatingly denounced the Assad regime.

Hunt asked Gabbard about an NBC report that Russian propaganda outlets appeared to favor her as a candidate. Gabbard insisted the story, which was based on an analysis comparing Russian outlets’ coverage of various Democratic candidates, was based on unreliable sourcing and had been debunked.

Asked whether she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a U.S. adversary, Gabbard responded without hesitation: “Yes.”