A Republican congressman from California who Breitbart claims is on the shortlist for secretary of state just displayed a trait that might very well endear him to President-elect Donald Trump — that is, obsequiously sucking up to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, when Yahoo News' Bianna Golodryga asked Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, about Trump's well-known coziness with the right-wing despot. When she brought up that Rohrabacher was referred to by Politico in November as "Putin's favorite congressman" and mentioned that Russia is guilty of human rights abuses comparable to those committed in China (which Rohrabacher had just denounced), the congressman patronizingly dismissed her claim.
"Oh, baloney!" Rohrabacher exclaimed. "Where do you come from?"
"I come from the former Soviet Union, that's where I came from," Golodryga replied. "I came here as a political refugee."
Rohrabacher responded by commenting, "Oh, well, then that's good, then the audience knows you're biased."
"I'm biased because I'm an American citizen who was born in a foreign country?" Golodryga replied incredulously.
After Golodryga again brought up Russia's human rights violations — which have been comprehensively recorded by Human Rights Watch — Rohrabacher tried to claim that President Ronald Reagan, for whom he had worked as a speechwriter, would have approved of his position on Putin.
"Reagan was the one who reached out to [Mikhail] Gorbachev," Rohrabacher said.
"Are you comparing Gorbachev to Vladimir Putin?" Golodryga asked.
"Absolutely, I am," Rohrabacher replied.
. @biannagolodryga you are my hero for holding Rep. Rohrabacher accountable. This is a spectacular exchange. pic.twitter.com/cVezIc6Mld
— Yashar (@yashar) December 8, 2016
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