Democratic member of Congress from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, who traveled to Syria and met Bashar al-Assad earlier this year, told FNC's Tucker Carlson on Monday night what she has learned about the origins of the war in Syria.



Related video: Tulsi Gabbard Discusses Meeting Bashar al-Assad: Syrians Beg U.S. Not To Support "So-Called Rebel Groups" And Terrorists



"This isn't a matter of giving weapons to people, but they end up falling into the wrong hands. We are directly arming militants who are working under the command of al-Qaeda, all in this effort to overthrow the Syrian government," Gabbard explained. "We have been providing direct and indirect support to al-Qaeda, the very group which attacked us on 9/11, that we are supposedly continuing to fight against and trying to defeat."



Al Qaeda was created in the 1980s through a CIA program which funnnelled money and weapons through Pakistani intel services to the Afghan mujahadeen called Operation Cyclone, in order to to combat Russian forces in Afghanistan.



"The thing that should make everyone feel sick is that people would rather support, directly and indirectly, al-Qaeda, than actually give up their regime change goals," Gabbard added.



Earlier this month, President Trump ended a CIA program shipping money, supplies, and weapons to rebel groups in the mideast in order to combat Russian forces in Iraq and Syria, according to the Washington Post.



President Trump appeared to deny the claims made by the Washington Post on Twitter Tuesday morning, saying that: "The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad... So many stories about me in the @washingtonpost are Fake News. They are as bad as ratings challenged @CNN. Lobbyist for Amazon and taxes?"





The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

So many stories about me in the @washingtonpost are Fake News. They are as bad as ratings challenged @CNN. Lobbyist for Amazon and taxes? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017



REP. TULSI GABBARD: For the benefit of your viewers, let's talk about what this CIA program actually was. It has been widely reported that for years now, the CIA was provding arms, intelligence, money, and other types of support to these armed militants who were working hand in hand, and who are working hand in hand, and oftentimes under the command of al-Qaeda in Syria.



This isn't a matter of giving weapons to people, but they end up falling into the wrong hands. We are directly arming militants who are working under the command of al-Qaeda, all in this effort to overthrow the Syrian government.



TUCKER CARLSON: That is groteque. Why would anyone defend this?



GABBARD: It is this addiction to regime change. And this idea that somehow this is what must be done, without actually looking at the facts. We have been providing direct and indirect support to al-Qaeda, the very group which attacked us on 9/11, that we are supposedly continuing to fight against and trying to defeat.



The thing that should make everyone feel sick is that people would rather support, directly and indirectly, al-Qaeda, than actually give up their regime change goals.







It is unknown which facts the president is saying are fabricated -- that he ended the program or that the program ever existed at all -- but in the tweet he appears to confirm that the program did indeed exist.Transcript: