- Page was a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser; his surveillance by the FBI is at the center of the explosive memo scandal
- Says documents he provided to a Russian charged with espionage in 2013 were the same papers he passed out to students in a college course he was teaching
- His boast that he was an 'informal adviser' to the Kremlin that same year is also being misconstrued, Page says — he was assisting in preparations for the G20
- Argues that the use of the dirty dossier in the FISA warrant application to spy on him is 'false evidence 'and the 'real obstruction of justice'
By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com
Published: 12:46 GMT, 6 February 2018 | Updated: 14:01 GMT, 6 February 2018
Carter Page, the Trump campaign foreign policy adviser whose surveillance by the FBI is at the center of the explosive memo scandal, denied Tuesday has had aided the Kremlin.
Page told Good Morning America that documents he provided to a Russian charged with espionage in 2013 were the very same papers he passed out to students in a college course he was teaching, and there was nothing nefarious about the exchange.
'It sounds a lot worse than reality, but that's reality,' Page said.
His boast that he was an 'informal adviser' to the Kremlin that same year is also being misconstrued, Page said — he was assisting in preparations for the G20.
Page revealed in the Tuesday interview that he's never even spoken to Donald Trump, even though he is routinely identified as an associate of the president's because he worked on the Republican's campaign.
Carter Page, the Trump campaign foreign policy adviser whose surveillance by the FBI is at the center of the explosive memo scandal, denied Tuesday has had aided the Kremlin
A memo put together entirely by Republican lawmakers that was released Friday names Page as the subject of FBI surveillance in 2016.
Republicans claim the FBI relied on an unverified dossier of opposition research against Trump when it applied for the FISA surveillance warrant to spy on Page.
The dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, was funded by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A July 2016 trip that Page, an energy consultant, made to Moscow on his own but with the knowledge of the Trump campaign has made him a person of interest in the Department of Justice's Russian election meddling probe.
Page had been on the FBI's radar since 2013, however, when he was targeted by two Russian spies, Viktor Podobnyy and Igor Sporyshev.
After Page gave Podobnyy, who he'd met at an symposium in New York, documents about the United States' energy enterprise, the FBI's interest was piqued. The feds interviewed Page in June of 2013.
The papers that Page passed along are unspecified in court records, aside from their characterization as 'documents' that were 'about the energy business.'
Page said Tuesday, on GMA, that the vague language had allowed his role in the hand-off to be misconstrued.
'This is sort of spin. I was teaching a course down Broadway here at NYU and I told them a couple of things about what I was talking about in my course and I gave them a couple of my notes from, or the documents that I gave my students,' Page said. 'It sounds when you say giving documents to a "spy," it sounds a lot worse than reality, but that's reality.'
Page revealed in the Tuesday interview that he's never even spoken to Donald Trump, even though he is routinely identified as an associate of the president's because he worked on the Republican's campaign
After his encounter with the FBI, in September of 2013, Page penned a letter in which he openly claimed he was working with the Russians.
'Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal adviser to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda,' the letter that Page admits to writing said.
That, too, was misreported, Page said Tuesday of the letter that came to light last week. The advice he was providing to Russia was directly related to the G20 conference that was held in St. Petersburg that month, Page said on GMA.
'There was a lot of people advising. We were part of an informal group, you know, and meeting in Geneva, Paris and the New York Stock Exchange,' he said. 'The first meeting was in the New York Stock Exchange. The center of capitalism.'
In light of the Republican memo revealing the FBI's sustained surveillance on him, Page accused the Justice Department of violating his First Amendment and due process rights.
'It was just shredded, the Constitution,' he said.
Page said, 'The probable cause based on all the evidence that keeps dripping out and now has been further substantiated with the Friday first memo is that it was based on that dodgy dossier which was, you know, a political stunt, which is unfortunate, which is false evidence.
'So if you talk about obstruction of justice, that's real obstruction of justice,' he added.
Page told Fox News host Laura Ingraham Monday evening that the Republican memo outlining the FBI's surveillance on him 'was even worse than I could've possibly imagined'
Democrats say that the closely-held FISA warrant that only a few Members of Congress have seen was backed up by additional evidence beyond the dossier.
On GMA, Page said he was supporting the New York Times in its quest to acquire the court filing.
'I hope they get it,' he stated. 'What I've seen thus far is just complete ridiculousness.'
Page also revealed that President Trump would not have been inadvertently picked up in his surveillance because they have never spoken to each other.
'I never spoke with him any time in my life,' he said.
That includes written communications like e-mail or text.
'Never,' he stated.
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