Tulsi Gabbard is running for president of the United States. The first Samoan-American and the first Hindu member of Congress, Gabbard is a crypto investor who disclosed her holdings of Litecoin and Ether in a routine filing last year.
Gabbard is a Democrat who currently serves as the US Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, a seat she’s held since 2013. A strident critic of the Trump administration, Gabbard announced her bid for the 2020 presidential election on Friday. She believes that the US government is complicit in fueling corruption by serving banks and mortgage industry lobbyists who put profits over people. She calls their actions “blatant corruption and greed.”
The value of both of Gabbard’s crypto assets were unspecified and are listed between $1,000 and $15,000. She made both purchases in December 2017, near the height of the crypto craze when valuations soared and pushed the cryptocurrency market cap to $566.2 billion, nearing its all-time high of $813.8 billion in January 2018.
Today’s current market cap is roughly $118.2 billion, according to data compiled by CoinMarketCap, having fallen steadily throughout 2017 in an ongoing bear market.
Appearing on The Van Jones Show on CNN on Friday, Jones pressed the Iraq War veteran about the likelihood of her presidential campaign. Gabbard, who currently serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, responded,
“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement next week.”
Gabbard says her key platform issues are health care access, climate change, criminal justice reform and global conflicts.
“There is one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace.”
In February 2016, the Hawaii congresswoman resigned from the Democratic National Committee to endorse Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Gabbard is also known for her unorthodox and highly controversial approach to foreign policy. In January 2017, she visited Syrian President Bashar Assad and has advocated that instead of getting rid of Assad, the US should focus on Islamist groups in the region.
Gabbard is likely to face off against her Democratic colleague Elizabeth Warren who is an outspoken crypto critic. The Massachusetts senator announced on New Year’s Eve that she’s forming an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run.
Gabbard appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience on September 10, 2018 where she outlined her viewpoints on global affairs, the state of the US, the military-industrial complex, and why US foreign policies in the Middle East have failed.