Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Friday clarified her stance on Syrian President Bashar Assad, but still refused to classify him as an enemy of the United States.

During an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” Ms. Gabbard, a 2020 presidential hopeful, was asked to address the controversial comments she made Feb. 8 on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“There are brutal dictators in the world,” Ms. Gabbard said. “Assad of Syria is one of them. That does not mean the United States should be waging regime-change wars around the world.”

The Hawaii congresswoman, who served with the U.S. Coast Guard, said that U.S. intervention in Middle East regime-change wars has made life worse for civilians in the region.

Ms. Gabbard was once again pressed on why she would not qualify the Syrian leader, who used chemical weapons on his own people, as an enemy, but she argued such a term has military implications.

“When you say there is an enemy of the United States, that implies that, therefore, we must go wage war to take out that enemy because that enemy threatens the safety and security of the American people,” she said.

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