Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is so highly regarded by the Kremlin as an intelligence source that he is considered worthy of a code name from the Russian government, according to The New York Times.

The FBI reportedly warned the Republican lawmaker, who serves as chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, in 2012 that the Kremlin believed he should have his own code name.

Rohrabacher has shown strongly sympathetic views toward Russia and has long supported improving relations between Washington and Moscow.

He has downplayed suggestions that he was a source to the Russians and said that he does not recall being briefed on the matter, according to the Times.

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The report comes as the congressman finds himself intertwined in the ongoing federal probe into any possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has investigated a meeting between Rohrabacher and President Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was ousted in February after he did not disclose his communications with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The congressman met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to discuss the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee, which Assange believes was an "inside job."

The intelligence community believes that Assange acted on behalf of Russian operatives to release the hacked Democratic emails.

Rohrabacher also met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya two months before she took part in the now infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the Trump campaign at Trump Tower in 2016.

The New York Times reported that the FBI and the Senate Intelligence Committee are looking to interview Rohrabacher about the meeting.