US Congress member met with Assad in Syria, discussed peace -CNN

Democratic U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard said on Wednesday she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and discussed the possibility of achieving peace.

The Hawaii Democrat told CNN in an interview that during her four-day visit, she wanted to get a first-hand view of the suffering of the Syrian people.

She said she met with Assad because "we've got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we could achieve peace, and that's exactly what we talked about."

Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran, spoke out against the Democratic Obama administration's policy of supporting the moderate opposition against Assad in Syria's six-year-old civil war.

Republican President Donald Trump indicated during the 2016 presidential campaign that he could abandon the rebels to focus on fighting Islamic State, which controls territory in parts of Syria.