Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., was told by a fellow Republican lawmaker not to travel to Moscow after President Donald Trump was inaugurated because of the toxic atmosphere surrounding Russia and the presidential election.
The Atlantic reported Wednesday that House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., told Rohrabacher during a conversation on the House floor he would not sign off on his request to travel to the Russian capital weeks after Trump took office.
Rohrabacher has visited Russia several times over the years and was even warned by the FBI that Russian spies might be attempting to recruit him.
The Los Angeles Times confirmed The Atlantic report, claiming that Royce told Rohrabacher traveling to Moscow amid accusations that Trump may have colluded with Russia would not be a wise idea.
Rohrabacher has pursued better relations between the U.S. and Russia for years. The Atlantic also reported that Paul Behrends, one of Rohrabacher's top aides, was fired from his other job as staff director of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats for having suspected ties to Russian lobbyists. Rohrabacher chairs the committee.
Rohrabacher said he and Behrends were given negative information about the Magnitsky Act from Russian officials during a trip to Moscow last year. Donald Trump Jr. and members of the Trump campaign had a similar experience at Trump Tower last summer when a Russian lawyer spoke with them about the 2012 law, which imposed U.S. sanctions on Russians responsible for the 2009 death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky while he was in a Moscow prison.
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