Gabbard noted that "for so long, leaders in our government have said, ’well, Saudi Arabia is our great ally, they’re a partner in counterterrorism’ ‐ turning a blind eye or completely walking away from the reality that Saudi Arabia time and again, has proven to be the opposite."
The Hawaii congresswoman also broke ranks with the bipartisan conventional wisdom about exactly what side the Saudi government is on when she noted that the Saudis are "the number one exporter of this Wahhabi extremist ideology. They’re a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists, like al-Qaeda and ISIS around the world. They’re directly providing arms and assistance to al-Qaeda in places like Yemen and in Syria."