Rohrabacher causes stir with support for Catalonian independence from Spain

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, the Orange County Republican who has been described as “Putin’s favorite congressman” and whose recent trip to Africa with disgraced lobbyist Jack Ambramoff raised eyebrows, is making waves again on the international front, this time in Spain.

El Pais, the major Spanish newspaper, reported this week that Rohrabacher has declared that he conceptually and "philosophically” supports the secession of Catalonia from Spain. The paper, in a banner headline, described the congressman as “the best friend of Catalonia’s Independence in the U.S."


Catalonia is an autonomous region in the northeast portion of Spain.

The congressman's position contradicts official U.S. government policy. Washington has steadfastly maintained it will not get involved in the independence movement roiling the political landscape in Spain, a key European ally.

The U.S. embassy in Madrid issued a statement seemingly designed to distance the Trump administration from Rohrabacher’s remarks and to calm Spanish fears of U.S. interference in the nation’s internal politics.

“From the promotion of mutual economic growth to the fight against ISIL and the prevention of violent extremism, Spain is a vital ally, partner and friend of the United States,’’ the embassy's statement read. “We want to reiterate that, as we have said on previous occasions, the position of the United States government over Catalonia is that it is an internal matter of Spain. We are deeply committed to maintaining the relationship with a strong and united Spain."

Rohrabacher’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment from POLITICO.

The statements come as the date of a referendum on Catalonian independence from Spain is expected to be announced in June — a move that Spanish government officials have called illegal and unconstitutional.

In 2015, Rohrabacher likened Catalonia’s quest for independence to that of the American colonies in the Revolutionary War.

The incident is the latest in a string of international headlines by the 14-term Republican, who hails from California's 48th Congressional district, one of the country’s legendary GOP bastions. In February alone he met with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Congolese strongman Denis Sassou Nguesso and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (who was a recent guest of President Donald Trump at the White House).

Rohrabacher, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, openly lobbied to become secretary of state, a post that went to former Exxon executive Rex Tillerson.

The controversies have underscored the growing view that he may be one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in California. He already is facing challenges from Democrats Harley Rouda, Laura Oatman and Boyd Roberts.

POLITICO recently reported that he was embroiled in a what was described as a “stranger than fiction deal” with lobbyist Abramoff in the Congo, purportedly to contain terrorism.

But he has made headlines on other international fronts as well. He sparked controversy during a March interview with an Albanian TV station when he said, “Macedonia is not a country." (Macedonia was part of the former Yugoloslavia until that nation broke apart in the early 1990s.)

Rohrabacher went on to say that Kosovars and Albanians living in Macedonia "should be a part of Kosovo" and the rest of Macedonia "should be part of Bulgaria or any other country to which they are related,’’ the publication Foreign Policy reported.

Those comments prompted outrage from Macedonians and led a State Department spokesman to say that the U.S. continues to "recognize and support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Macedonia.”