GOP lawmaker defends Russia, Trump before meeting president

WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran GOP congressman who's been Russia's leading defender on Capitol Hill lashed out at the country's critics as he prepared to meet later today with President Donald Trump.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California also angrily dismissed the suggestion Trump has been too cozy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Because of the brouhaha over nothing that the Democrats are trying to distract everybody's attention with, the ability to actually try to establish the type of relationship with Russia that we could possibly do is being blocked," Rohrabacher told a small group of reporters at the Capitol.

"There are people here who want to go to war with Russia, they just say they hate Russia for whatever reason," Rohrabacher added. "Or they're trying to exploit some kind of fear among the public that would prevent us from actually having good relations with this very big country and very powerful country."

Federal law enforcement authorities and bipartisan congressional investigators are looking into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and potential ties between Trump's campaign and Russia.

GOP hawks including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, have raised repeated concerns over Putin's conduct, including suppressing and killing political enemies and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

McCain and others have also questioned why Trump has been uniformly positive about Putin and has never criticized the Russian leader. But Rohrabacher objected to the notion that Trump was too cozy with Putin, pointing out the two men have never met.