103 Facts About Rohrabacher

Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher is a former American politician who served in the US House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019.

Rohrabacher ran for re-election to Congress in 2018, losing to Democrat Harley Rouda.

Rohrabacher was the longest-serving House incumbent to lose reelection in 2018.

Rohrabacher has expressed strong pro-Russia and pro-Putin opinions, which have raised questions about his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government.

Rohrabacher was born on June 21,1947, in Coronado, California, the son of Doris M and Donald Tyler Rohrabacher.

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Rohrabacher attended elementary school locally, and during his college years, he lived in Sunset Beach.

Rohrabacher graduated from Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, California, attended community college at Los Angeles Harbor College, and earned a bachelor's degree in history at California State University, Long Beach in 1969.

Rohrabacher received his master's degree in American Studies at the University of Southern California.

Rohrabacher served as assistant press secretary to Ronald Reagan during his 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns.

Rohrabacher then worked as a speechwriter and special assistant to President Reagan from 1981 to 1988.

Rohrabacher left the Reagan administration in 1988 to pursue Dan Lungren's recently vacated House seat.

Rohrabacher twice experienced serious primary competition, in 1992 and 1998.

In 1990, Rohrabacher opposed the National Endowment of the Arts and joined Mel Hancock in demanding its abolition.

Rohrabacher has taken the leading role in the House calling for the abolishment of the NEA.

In October 1991, Rohrabacher wrote a letter to the civil rights division of the Education Department after seven Filipino students complained to the media that they were denied admission to the University of California, San Diego.

Rohrabacher requested the department conduct a federal civil rights investigation on what seemed to be "a quota based upon race that illegally discriminates against Filipino-Americans and possibly applicants of other races".

Rohrabacher stated that the school ranks all applicants using a grade-based formula.

Rohrabacher was charged with improper use of campaign contributions in the 1995 state assembly election for providing money from his campaign and giving it to his Campaign Manager, and future wife, Rhonda Carmony in order to promote a decoy Democratic candidate, Laurie Campbell, to draw away votes from the primary Democratic candidate Linda Moulton-Patterson, who was running against Republican Candidate Scott Baugh.

In November 1997, Rohrabacher was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton.

On October 8,1998, Rohrabacher voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open an impeachment inquiry.

On December 19,1998, Rohrabacher voted in favor of all four articles of impeachment against Clinton.

In 2011, Rohrabacher voted against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.

In June 2015, Rohrabacher released a statement accusing former treasurer of his reelection committee, Jack Wu, of embezzling more than $170,000 from his campaign.

Rohrabacher commented he would be holding a hearing with the Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations into whether Iraq committed "crimes against humanity" during an attack on Camp Ashraf in April 2011.

On November 4,2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Rohrabacher was paid $23,000 for a 30-year-old screen play he had written.

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Rohrabacher said that the introductions were made in good faith, were nothing that was not done regularly for legitimate causes, and that the introductions had only become an issue because of Joseph Medawar's alleged misdeeds.

In May 2006, Rohrabacher announced through his press secretary that he would return the $23,000.

In February 2017, Rohrabacher faced criticism for refusing to meet with constituents that showed up at his local Huntington Beach office.

Rohrabacher chaired the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science Committee from 1997 until January 2005; he received a two-year waiver to serve beyond the six-year term limit.

Rohrabacher called the Russian banker Aleksandr Torshin, a Putin ally, "sort of the conservatives' favorite Russian".

On September 8,2008, at a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, Rohrabacher argued that the Georgians had initiated a recent military confrontation in the ongoing Russia–Georgia war.

In February 2013, Rohrabacher gave a speech urging the right to self-determination for the Baloch people in Pakistan at an UNPO conference in London.

Rohrabacher planned to subject him to what was described as a "show trial", where in addition to questioning Browder closely and skeptically about his claims, a feature-length documentary film critical of the Magnitsky claims, directed by Andrei Nekrasov, was to be shown in its entirety.

Rohrabacher had previously met at least twice to discuss Russian sanctions with Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet spy "who met with President Trump's son, son-in-law and campaign manager in June 2016".

In July 2017, Rohrabacher voted for imposing new sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

In February 2020, it was reported that in August 2017, Rohrabacher met with Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to offer Assange a pardon from President Trump if Assange can offer material supporting Seth Rich as the source of email leaks from the Democratic National Committee during 2016 and not Russians.

Stephanie Grisham, White House spokesperson for President Trump, stated that Trump barely knew Rohrabacher, except that he was an ex-congressman, and has not spoken with Rohrabacher "on this subject or almost any subject".

On February 19,2020, Edward Fitzgerald, Julian Assange's barrister, asserted at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London that Rohrabacher had been sent on behalf of President Trump in August 2017 to offer Assange a pardon from Trump if Assange could release material to show that Russian intelligence were not involved in the 2016 United States election interference.

In 2006, Rohrabacher chaired the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the US House Committee on International Relations, which investigated whether the Oklahoma City bombers had assistance from foreign sources; the committee determined there was no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection.

Rohrabacher said that the unfair treatment of one innocent suspect is an acceptable "unfortunate consequence" of holding others who would otherwise be free to commit terror acts.

In 2003, Rohrabacher defended the new Afghan constitution against those who saw in it mainly empowerment of warlords, saying:.

Rohrabacher has since become a proponent of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Rohrabacher voted for McGovern's Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, requiring an exit plan from Afghanistan.

Rohrabacher was against former President Obama's gradual drawdown of troops, instead supporting a full withdrawal.

Rohrabacher worked to bring attention to the systemic corruption in the Karzai government and cut US taxpayers' funding for these wasteful projects and programs, involving corruption within the Hamid Karzai government.

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Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, told Security Clearance he was readying to travel with five other Republicans from Dubai to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, when the State Department requested he stay behind.

Rohrabacher was opposed to the involvement of American ground troops in the Yugoslav Wars.

Rohrabacher advocated for the direct bombing of the military on Yugoslav soil, criticizing the ineffectiveness of western forces against the Bosnian Serbs.

In July 1999, Rohrabacher led the House floor in opposition to legislation normalizing trade ties between the United States and China.

In 2011 interviews, Rohrabacher described the Chinese government under the leadership of Hu Jintao as "a gangster regime that murders its own people" and described the Chinese government as Nazis.

In December 2016, after President-elect Trump had a phone call with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, Rohrabacher said the call had "showed the dictators in Beijing that he's not a pushover" and that China "has had an enormously aggressive foreign policy".

Rohrabacher voted in support of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq in 2002, a position that he later said was "a mistake".

Rohrabacher supported removing the People's Mujahedin of Iran from the United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations; it was included on the list from 1997 to 2012.

Rohrabacher received $10,300 in donations from the MEK between 2013 and 2015.

In May 2011, in the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death, Rohrabacher introduced a bill to stop aid to Pakistan, stating that members of the government and of Pakistan's security force, the ISI, were either sheltering Bin Laden or completely incompetent.

In 2007, Rohrabacher supported Mohiuddin Ahmed, a detainee in the US, who was said to be involved in an attempted coup in Bangladesh, during which several people were murdered.

Rohrabacher was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's extradition request was halted as Rohrabacher voiced concern about his legal rights, saying that he should be sent somewhere with no death penalty.

Rohrabacher's support was applauded by both Amnesty International and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Rohrabacher gave a "qualified defense" of the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.

Rohrabacher suggested that the two countries should cooperate in fighting the War on Terror, curbing Iranian influence in the Yemeni Civil War, and securing the Red Sea region.

Rohrabacher said that the discussion was about the possibility of a presidential pardon in exchange for Assange supplying information on the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee, which were published by WikiLeaks before the 2016 presidential election.

In March 2005, Rohrabacher introduced HR 1061, the American Property Claims Against Ethiopia Act, which would "prohibit United States assistance to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia until the Ethiopian government returns all property of United States citizens".

On March 7,2006, Rohrabacher introduced HR 4895, an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, "to limit the provision of the United States military assistance and the sale, transfer, or licensing of United States military equipment or technology to Ethiopia".

Rohrabacher said that Gorbachev tore down the Berlin Wall because Reagan told him to.

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Rohrabacher's entourage included a group of Californian property investors and businessmen, a dealer in rare coins, and CEOs from San Diego biofuels corporation.

Rohrabacher voted to repeal Obamacare, disputed evidence of man-made global warming, was a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, and favored the legalization of cannabis.

Rohrabacher was warned in 2012 in a secure room at the Capitol building by an agent from the FBI that Russian spies may have been trying to recruit him to act on Russia's behalf as an "agent of influence", after he met with a member of the Russian foreign ministry privately in Moscow.

On November 21,2017, The New York Times reported that Rohrabacher had come under scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee for his close ties to the Kremlin.

Rohrabacher had drawn public criticism for some of his positions.

Rohrabacher had consistently supported Russian interests in Congress and had defended Trump's controversial remarks regarding Russia.

Rohrabacher had been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump.

Rohrabacher does not believe that global warming is a problem.

On May 4,2017, Rohrabacher voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and passing the American Health Care Act.

Rohrabacher voted for his party's Obamacare replacement bill that included state waivers from rules that prohibit charging higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions.

Rohrabacher was an advocate for the state of California's Proposition 187, which prohibited illegal immigrants from acquiring government services.

In early 2008, Rohrabacher endorsed Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary, citing his positions on stemming illegal immigration and criticizing John McCain.

Rohrabacher's spokesperson has disputed both statements, averring that it was actually the student who started the confrontation by yelling at the spokesperson and telling her to "butt out".

In September 2017, Rohrabacher supported the Trump administration's rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, saying that those "in Congress must work to prevent such cynical loopholes from being created again by executive fiat" despite their possible empathy for the immigrants.

Rohrabacher has drawn controversy over his views on LGBT rights.

Rohrabacher opposed same-sex marriage and endorsed Proposition 8, the ballot initiative in 2008 that would have prohibited same-sex marriage in California, during a debate at Orange Coast College, stating he "would suggest not changing the definition of marriage in our society to make a small number of people feel more comfortable".

Rohrabacher voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment in both 2004 and 2006, a proposed amendment to the US Constitution that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and forbade states from recognizing or legalizing same-sex marriage.

However, Rohrabacher has appeared to have endorsed the idea of leaving marriage to religious institutions only, stating on Twitter that churches should be solely responsible for conducting marriages but that the government should only recognize them.

Rohrabacher supported the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes.

Rohrabacher spoke against the policy of cannabis prohibition as early as May 2013, calling it a "colossal failure" in an op-ed penned for the Orange County Register.

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Rohrabacher further outlined his views in a May 2014 op-ed in National Review, arguing that the prohibition of cannabis has incurred a number of undesirable costs upon free society, such as an increase in gang violence, soaring incarceration rates, unconstitutional seizure of private property through civil forfeiture, corruption and militarization of police forces, and negative impacts on minority communities and relationships with Latin-American countries.

Rohrabacher has called on fellow Republicans to reconsider their stance towards cannabis, citing core conservative principles such as limited government, individual liberty, respect for the Tenth Amendment, and respect for the doctor–patient relationship that Rohrabacher says lend support to loosening current laws.

Rohrabacher is a strong proponent of states' rights when it comes to cannabis policy.

Rohrabacher has introduced the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment for a number of years beginning in 2003, to prohibit the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.

Additional legislation that Rohrabacher has introduced includes the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act and the Veterans Equal Access Act.

In February 2017, Rohrabacher co-founded the Congressional Cannabis Caucus – along with Reps.

Rohrabacher earned an "A+" rating from NORML for his voting record regarding cannabis-related matters.

Rohrabacher was an opponent of the America Invents Act, a bill that is attempting to change the current Patent System.

Rohrabacher was chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1997 to January 2005 and has been active on space-related issues.

In 2007, Rohrabacher introduced a bill that would direct NASA to develop a strategy "for deflecting and mitigating potentially hazardous near-Earth objects".

Rohrabacher has applauded the Apollo astronauts, calling them unofficial ambassadors.

On July 18,2017, Rohrabacher asked a panel of space experts testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology if civilizations could have existed on Mars in the past.

On January 6,2021, Rohrabacher was filmed breaching a United States Capitol Police barricade during the January 6 United States Capitol attack, although Rohrabacher was not charged with an offense.

Rohrabacher has been married to his wife, Rhonda Carmony, since 1997.

Rohrabacher was described by the Los Angeles Times as "an avid surfer".

Rohrabacher sings, plays guitar, and has written his own song about freedom and America.

Rohrabacher revealed in May 2016 that he uses a cannabis-infused topical rub to treat his arthritis pain, allowing him to sleep through the night.

In December 2018, a month after losing his bid for reelection, Rohrabacher announced that he would be moving to Maine to, among other things, write film scripts.