Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard met with President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team Monday.
Gabbard, who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, is being considered for jobs at the Defense Department, State Department and the United Nations, a source told CNN.
Gabbard stepped down from her post as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee earlier in the year to support Sanders — and fight Hillary Clinton — in the primaries. She stood by Sanders through the Democratic convention, only announcing she would vote for Clinton days after the convention ended.
“President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face,” Gabbard said in a statement. “
I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government — a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families.
She added, “While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives.”
Gabbard is not the first Democrat to meet with Trump. Trump met last week with corporate education reformer Michelle Rhee, the former schools chief of Washington, who is being considered for education secretary.
If Trump picks Gabbard or Rhee for his administration, it would mark an about-face for the incoming president, who promised in October that Democrats would not serve in his Cabinet.
Also expected to meet with Trump today at Trump Tower are former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and Newt Gingrich.
