President Trump responded to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s claim in the second Democratic presidential debate that he is helping al Qaeda.
“Nobody knows what she meant by that,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If you remember a short while ago, I defeated ISIS. We have 100% of the caliphate. … We have captured 100% of the caliphate. And we’ve done a big job on al Qaeda and everybody else. So for her to make that statement is ridiculous, frankly. For her to make that statement is so ridiculous.”
“And she has taken a lot of heat on it because nobody has done more against that war than I have,” the president said.
During the second Democrat presidential debate Wednesday, the Hawaiian Democrat accused Trump of propping up al Qaeda.
“This current president is continuing to betray us,” she said. “We were supposed to be going after al Qaeda. But over years now, not only have we not gone after al Qaeda, our president is supporting al Qaeda.”
In an interview with CNN host Anderson Cooper after the debate, Gabbard claimed Trump was “directly or indirectly” propping up by keeping Syria and the Russians from going after al Qaeda in Idlib, Syria. Cooper responded that Gabbard was reusing a talking point from the Assad regime.
Cooper struggled to get the 2020 hopeful to condemn the Assad regime, settling for Gabbard stating she would not “dispute” Cooper’s assertion that Assad was a murderer after asking her several times.
Gabbard, 38, is tied for ninth place, polling 1% in the Democratic presidential primary race, according to RealClearPolitics.
