Story highlights Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee with jurisdiction over Russia issues

"They were just trying to detail the different things I've done with the Russians," he says

(CNN) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said the Senate Intelligence Committee questioned him Tuesday about meetings and trips to Russia over the past several years as part of the panel's investigation into Russian election meddling.

The California Republican told CNN that those meetings and trips were part of his role as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Russia subcommittee dealing with the country. Leaving the Senate committee's secure spaces after the closed-door interview, Rohrabacher said he's "an open book" when it comes to Russia.

"They were just trying to detail the different things I've done with the Russians," Rohrabacher said. "I'm the chairman of the subcommittee that is the point person on our relations with Russia over these last five years. I've had a lot of meetings and codels (congressional delegation trips), and they were trying to make sure they understood."

Rohrabacher has come under scrutiny for his meeting over the summer with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He said after meeting Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London that that a "rendezvous" was being set up between him and Trump to relay the information he had received from Assange.

Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller is also reportedly interested in Rohrabacher's meeting with former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn last year.

Read More