WASHINGTON — House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford blasted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as a “threat to national security” ahead of the self-styled Democratic socialist’s anti-artificial intelligence panel with top Chinese experts.
Crawford (R-Ark.) homed in on Sanders’ past affinity for far-left Communist and socialist movements while contending that his anti-AI crusade undermines US geopolitical and security interests.
“America-last Senator Sanders is a guy that has a history of embracing communism visiting the Soviet Union,” Crawford told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings With Maria Bartiromo.”
“It was back during the Cold War when Americans typically did not go to the Soviet Union — but that was a vacation designation for him,” the GOP lawmaker added.
“He embraces Chinese communism. All I can say is if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s a duck.”
After Sanders tied the knot with his wife, Jane, in the late 1980s, the two embarked on a 10-day journey to the Soviet Union. At the time, he was serving as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and was traveling there on official business to establish a sister-city arrangement with Yaroslavl.
Sanders has since described it as “a very strange honeymoon.”
On Wednesday, Sanders is set to convene an AI panel on Capitol Hill as part of his crusade to pump the brakes on the development of the nascent technology, citing fears that policymakers haven’t kept up.
That panel will include Xue Lan, a professor at Tsinghua University and chairman of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Committee, which is closely aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.
Zeng Yi, dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, who is linked to that same CCP-aligned panel, will also be in attendance.
Critics have argued that the Chinese experts have an interest in encouraging the US to slow down its AI development so that China can jump ahead.
The United States is home to the most talented AI researchers in the world.
Instead of harnessing American innovation, Senator Sanders is inviting foreign nationals to tell the United States how to regulate AI.
It would be like channeling Hugo Chavez to get advice on how to run… https://t.co/D4bnIeJz76
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 27, 2026
“The United States is home to the most talented AI researchers in the world,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent jabbed at Sanders this week. “Instead of harnessing American innovation, Senator Sanders is inviting foreign nationals to tell the United States how to regulate AI.”
“It would be like channeling Hugo Chavez to get advice on how to run our economy — oh wait, the senator from Vermont did that 20 years ago, too,” he added. “The real threat to AI safety is letting any nation other than the United States set the global standard.”
Sanders had infamously signed a letter of support for late Venezuelan strongman Chavez in 2003.
The Vermont independent has been an ardent skeptic of the rapid technological advancements in AI development. He’s pushed for a moratorium on AI data centers to give lawmakers time to catch up.
“Uncontrolled AI poses a severe danger to all of humanity,” Sanders said last week.
“I’ll be hosting a discussion with leading AI scientists from the US and China about the need for international cooperation against this existential threat. This is an enormously important issue.”
