Rep. Rohrabacher: Indictment of NRA-linked Russian is "stupid"
Sen. Dana Rohrabacher dismissed the Butina prosecution Tuesday as a function of the “deep state,” a term used by President Donald Trump to deride law enforcement officials as conspirators. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) says he’s not sure whether he’s the congressman mentioned in Monday’s indictment of a Russian gun-rights activist for acting as an unregistered agent of the Kremlin — but he is sure that the charge against the woman is “bogus.”
The indictment of 29-year-old Mariia Butina notes that she had discussions with a prominent Russian official — believed to be Alexander Torshin — about his plans to “meet with a U.S. Congressman during a Congressional Delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015."
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Rohrabacher said on Tuesday that he was part of that delegation, but he said he was there with at least one other lawmaker and a larger group of Americans.
“I know I had dinner with [Butina] along with another member, along with a visiting delegation to Russia,” he said. “Is that something we should be worried about?”
Rohrabacher unloaded on the indictment, which alleged clandestine efforts by Butina to set up a back channel between Russian and American political leaders, using the National Rifle Association as a conduit.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid,” Rohrabacher said. “She’s the assistant of some guy who is the head of the bank and is a member of their Parliament. That’s what we call a spy? That shows you how bogus this whole thing is.”
“This is an attempt to undermine the president’s ability to have better relationships with Russia,” he added.
Rohrabacher’s own relationship with Russia has come under scrutiny in recent months. He hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing but he’s developed connections with many of the players being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller. For instance, Rohrabacher at one time took a meeting with a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician arranged by Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who is preparing to stand trial for a raft of fraud and money laundering charges. He also participated in a 2013 meeting involving Manafort and another lobbyist.
Rohrabacher also reportedly met in 2016 with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was the central figure in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting convened by Donald Trump Jr. that is now a focal point of Mueller’s investigation.
And he met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last year and discussed an attempt to brief Trump on the meeting and connect Assange with American officials.
Rohrabacher on Tuesday dismissed the Butina charges as a function of the “deep state,” a term used by President Trump to deride law enforcement officials as conspirators in a plot to undermine him.
“There are people in what we call "deep state," meaning these guys have wormed their way into power in the Obama years and before and have their own political agenda,” Rohrabacher said. “And they’re utilizing every bit of leverage that they’ve got to accomplish their mission.”
Rohrabacher said he’s not concerned he’ll become entangled with law enforcement.
“They can’t because Dana Rohrabacher is the chairman of the committee who has jurisdiction to oversee America’s relations with Russia,” he said, referring to his role chairing the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats. “Anybody who I meet, especially somebody who works for the head of their bank — they have taken very public people and claiming that they’re spies. Give me a break.”
Rohrabacher said he not heard from Mueller or his team at any point in the investigation and doesn’t expect he will.
“They know it’s all bogus,” he said, “and they know that I’m not a pushover.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/17/rohrabacher-russia-nra-indictment-butina-726306
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