Rohrabacher addresses a wide range of issues with Leisure World constituents

Leisure World residents made their opinions known at recent a town hall meeting with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Photo by Mark S. Scott S. Scott

Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA 48th) on Saturday called the inquiry of Donald Trump Jr’s. meetings with Russian lobbyists as an issue created by media “intent on destroying the democratic process.”

Speaking at a town hall meeting hosted by the Leisure World Republican Club, the 13-term congressman told about 100 people in attendance it’s “disgraceful that the media is making this an issue. There are no specifics; this is a ‘nothing-burger.’” He dismissed an Associated Press report that his campaign received $2,500 from Russia, which was cited in the OC Weekly last week, as innuendo from a publication that makes all of its money from sex ads.” He acknowledged later that his campaign may have received $1,000 from a group associated with Russian lobbyists, adding, “I’m sure other members of Congress from both parties have too.”

Questions from the audience, which was limited to Leisure World residents to discourage what Rohrabacher called left-wing instigators, addressed topics including global warming, North Korea, immigration and healthcare. Asked about North Korea’s increasingly frequent displays of force, the congressman, whose district runs from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach, said he’s “not interested in getting involved in military action against the little piglet in North Korea,” referring to its leader, Kim Jung-un, instead favoring sanctions against its supporters. “China has increased its economic activities with the country, and should suffer retributions for supporting North Korea.”

When one resident asked the congressman when he would stop denying global warming despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, Rohrabacher stated that while “mankind does have some impact” on climate change, global warming claims have been made since the 1920s, and that his advisors, including a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, have assured him that rising ocean levels and increasing temperatures are a cyclical phenomenon, similar to the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. On immigration, Rohrabacher drew applause from the audience when he said he opposes “providing benefits to anyone who came to America, illegally, including children.”

Taking questions on healthcare, Rohrabacher stated that the bill recently passed by Congress that is projected to reduce or eliminate benefits to millions of Americans, was simply a starting point for debate, and that Congress would pass a bill that was fair to everyone by the end of the year.”