ABC News(NEW YORK) — Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said that when he was in Moscow last summer, “something may have come up in a conversation” with Russians about lifting U.S. sanctions.
Page traveled to the Russian capital in July 2016 to give a speech at the New Economic School.
ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Page on Good Morning America Thursday if he met with anyone in the Russian government or connected to Russian intelligence during that trip.
Page said he briefly said “hello” to one of the school’s board members.
When Stephanopoulos pressed on whether in any of these conversations Page discussed a possible lifting of U.S. sanctions against Russia, Page said he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t recall every single word I ever said,” Page said. “Something may have come up in a conversation. I have no recollection, and there’s nothing specifically that I would have done that would have given people that impression.”
“Someone may have brought it up,” he continued. “And if it was, it was not something I was offering or that someone was asking for.”
“We’ll see what comes out in this FISA transcript,” he said.
Page added, “People make up all kinds of conspiracy theories.”
“These same lies keep swirling around months on end,” he said of alleged ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
Page’s remarks on GMA came two days after The Washington Post reported that the FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor Trump’s former foreign policy adviser because they suspected he might be working with the Russians. Law enforcement officials presented enough evidence, the newspaper reported, to convince a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge to authorize electronic surveillance of his communication.
Approval of a FISA warrant, according to John Carlin, the former assistant attorney general for national security and an ABC News contributor, requires extensive evidence.
“You have to lay out a series of facts that show that there’s probable cause to believe that someone is an agent of a foreign power,” Carlin said, speaking in general and not about any specific case. “It’s secret because it’s designed for foreign agents.”
When asked about the FBI’s ongoing investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential race, Page said: “I do not talk about any ongoing investigations. I will say that, in terms of probable cause, there’s been a ton of false evidence that’s been out there, primarily in the public realm.”
Page has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but The Washington Post‘s report is the clearest indication that his ties to Russia are a key element of the FBI’s inquiry. FBI Director James Comey confirmed that his office was engaged in a probe of Russia’s attempts to meddle in the election on Trump’s behalf when he appeared before Congress in March, though he did not specify who those individuals might be.
“The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” Comey told lawmakers. “And that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”
The White House, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have all declined to comment on The Washington Post’s report.
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