Martial artist and American film hero Steven Seagal attempted to put together a trip to Chechnya for U.S. lawmakers participating in the investigation of the brothers behind the recent Boston Marathon Bombings.
The Tsarnaev brothers, responsible for the attacks, are Chechen Muslims, from the semi-independent state contained within the Russian borders.
According to ABC News, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Paul Cook (R. Calif), Bill Keating (D-Mass), Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), and Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.) were reportedly on the list of U.S. officials scheduled to go on the trip, officially referred to as CODEL.
The trip was part of a greater investigation following vague warnings and inconsistent remarks by Russian officials about the attacks.
"If there was a distrust, or lack of cooperation because of that distrust, between the Russian intelligence and the FBI, then that needs to be fixed and we will be talking about that," Rohrabacher said. "Our goal is to use Boston as an example, if indeed there was something more, that should've been done that wasn't because of a bad attitude."
At the last minute, they decided not to go, but did not comment when asked, "citing congressional security rules about foreign travel."
U.S. Officials turned to Seagal to facilitate planning CODEL because of his recently developed ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, POLITICO reported.
The U.S. State Department did not comment on the plans either.
It's unclear if another trip was being rescheduled.
Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Putin reached out the action star to help re-develop a Soviet-style fitness program for the country to promote healthier lifestyles among young people.
Bringing in Seagal to help motivate the program was an attempt to revive a 1930's program born under Stalin that would have brought "major benefits" to their government and people.
Check out this recent Budweiser ad starring Seagal:
