GOP congressman on Russian human rights abuse: 'Baloney'

A California congressman, who has offered himself up to be President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of State, got into a contentious interview with a Yahoo News anchor Wednesday. He accused her of bias after she brought up human rights abuses in Russia and said she was born in the former Soviet Union.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was promoting “a better relationship with Russia,” which he said would have many benefits, including loosening the relationship with China, in an interview Wednesday.

Anchor Bianna Golodryga said that if the Republican lawmaker was going to talk about human rights abuses in China, “much can be said about Russia as well in that regard.”

“Oh, baloney. Where do you come from? How can you say that?” Rohrabacher shot back.

“I come from the former Soviet Union, that’s where I came from. I came here as a political refugee … that’s where I came from,” Golodryga responded. Rohrabacher then asked where exactly she was from.

“I come from the former Soviet Union, from Moldova,” said the anchor, adding that she she is an American citizen.

“Oh, well then that’s good, then the audience knows that you are biased,” said Rohrabacher.

Golodryga said that Russia has been accused of murdering journalists. Rohrabacher shot back: “I’ll let the public decide with that last comment where you are coming from. The bottom line is what’s good for America to prioritize, as I did when I worked with Ronald Reagan. I wrote most of his speeches on this issue.”

He added that he thinks former president Reagan would “love” his comments about Putin.

Rohrabacher has consistently been an advocate for better relations with Russia and has said supportive things about President Vladimir Putin.

He’s also frequently promoted himself as a possible pick for secretary of State, and he said Wednesday he’s spoken to “some people high up in the transition team” about the post but did not specify whether he'd discussed the position with Trump himself. Trump has other options — including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — who seem to be more likely.