Carter Page, a onetime foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign, on Saturday said his discussions with Russian officials only covered “publicly available immaterial information.”
“Nothing I was ever asked to do, or no information I was ever asked for, was anything beyond what you could see on CNN,” he said in an interview on the same network. “Nothing I ever talked about with any Russian official extends beyond that publicly available immaterial information.”
CNN reported on Friday, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that in summer 2016 the FBI obtained evidence that Russian operatives tried to infiltrate the Trump campaign through its sprawling network of advisers, including Page.
Page on Saturday noted the word “tried” in CNN’s headline.
“Now they’re really reeling things back,” he said.
The Washington Post reported earlier in April that the FBI obtained a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor Page’s communications after arguing that there was probable cause to believe he was acting as a Russian agent.
Page on Saturday cited CNN’s report last week that the FBI used a dossier containing allegations of ties between Trump and Russia as part of its justification for obtaining an order in 2016 to monitor Page’s communications.
“I think the dodgy dossier is the ultimate, at least from what we know thus far, the ultimate ‘try,’ and a swing and a miss thus far. But we’ll see what happens,” he said.
Page said “all of the false narrative that has been out there” was the “ultimate” election meddling, though he also questioned whether any interference took place to begin with.
“I think the bigger meddling in the election was what was done against me and potentially others,” he said.
“The bigger meddling in the election was what was done against me,” says Carter Page https://t.co/2NseLGraMF https://t.co/Pj0Tm19d3v
— CNN (@CNN) April 22, 2017