Tulsi Gabbard says she will be running for president in 2020



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"I decided to run and I will make an official announcement next week," said the Hawaiian Democrat at Van Jones, of CNN, during an interview scheduled for broadcast at 7 pm. Saturday at CNN's "The Van Jones Show"

Gabbard, a veteran of the Iraq war, currently sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. She is the first American Samoan and the first Hindu member of Congress.

"There are many reasons for me to make this decision, the American people are facing many challenges that concern me and that I want to help resolve," she said, citing the to health care, criminal justice reform and climate change as key issues of the platform.

"There is one main problem that is at the center of the agenda, namely, war and peace," Gabbard added. "I look forward to entering this discussion and discussing it further when we make our announcement."

Rania Batrice, deputy director of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016, is now one of Gabbard's main aides.

In 2015, Gabbard, then vice president of the National Democratic Committee, strongly criticized her then president, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for scheduling six presidential debates during the 2016 primary election cycle. She subsequently resigned from her position as Vice President of the DNC to become one of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' most prominent supporters, aligning herself with her populist economic message.

Gabbard defined anti-interventionist positions on foreign policy in Congress. His meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad in 2017 has been widely criticized. "Initially, I had not planned to meet him," Gabbard told CNN's Jake Tapper in January, 2017. "When the opportunity is presented to meet him, I'll meet him. I did it because I thought it was important that if we claimed to really care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, should be able to meet everyone else if he could, it is possible to achieve peace, and that is exactly what we talked about. "

Gabbard quickly joined the committee. growing number of Democrats eager to take President Donald Trump to the presidency.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren announced on New Year's Eve that she was forming an exploratory committee for a presidential race. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro has also formed an exploratory committee and is expected to announce plans for 2020.

A number of other potential Democratic candidates, including heavyweights such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are: We are currently wondering if we want to run for president and we expect them to announce soon their decision.

Eric Bradner and Gregory Krieg of CNN contributed to this report.

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