House Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) called Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) a “threat to national security” Monday ahead of Sanders’ plans to host top Chinese experts in a discussion about the risks of artificial intelligence.

“America-last Sen. Sanders is a guy that has a history of embracing communism, visiting the Soviet Union,” Crawford said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings With Maria.” “It was back during the Cold War when Americans typically did not go to the Soviet Union, but that was a vacation destination for him.”

Claiming that Sanders, a self-declared Democratic Socialist, “embraces Chinese communism,” the GOP lawmaker added, “All I can say is if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

Crawford also described Sanders as a “communist,” and said he is a “threat to national security.”

HuffPost has reached out to Sanders’ office for comment.

In March, Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, which would put a hold on new data centers in the U.S. until national AI safety regulations and safeguards are put into place to protect workers, consumers and the environment.

Sanders announced on X last week that he plans to host a discussion on Wednesday evening with “leading AI scientists from the US and China about the need for international cooperation against this existential threat,” which he called “an enormously important issue.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also blasted Sanders, writing in a Monday X post: “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.”

Bessent added that the “real threat to AI safety is letting any nation other than the United States set the global standard.”

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