My first thought upon hearing California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher took it upon himself to travel to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, for the purpose of speaking with WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, was: Why?

The California Republican returned and proudly announced that we could all calm down and go back to normal. There was no Russian interference in the 2016 election. Assange told him so.

You know, because Assange has proven to be such a trustworthy and steadfast friend of America, we should just take his word for it and let that be it.

Now, since Rohrabacher has stepped up to be the next Republican defender of Assange and Russia, he has piqued the interest of the Senate Intelligence committee, who may want to speak with him about his early August trip.

Shortly after the meeting with Assange, Rohrabacher said he planned to debrief President Donald Trump on their talk. Speaking on Sean Hannity’s radio show this week, Rohrabacher said that other parties are planning a “rendezvous” for him and Trump to speak about the Assange meeting.

Sean Hannity? What? Infowars not interested?

Honestly, I’d never heard of Rohrabacher before this. Is he just trying to up his profile? Maybe gain a little extra time in the throne room?

There is no indication that Rohrabacher is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But Rohrabacher does have connection to a person involved in something that has drawn the interest of investigators: the June 2016 meeting that Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort had with a group of Russians, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Rohrabacher was not at that Trump Tower meeting, but he was working closely with Veselnitskaya and others to try and repeal the Magnitsky Act, which targets Russians whom the US considers human rights abusers.

Oh.

“He hasn’t been contacted by the committee, but is happy to talk with them after he talks with President Trump,” Ken Grubbs, a Rohrabacher aide, said Wednesday, of the Senate intelligence committee’s possible interest in speaking with him.

First of all, he shouldn’t be able to set the rules for when and how, but that’s just me.

Rohrabacher inserted himself into this ongoing probe, it seems, and there has to be a motive. It’s just a matter of finding out what that motive is.