New revelations shine harsh light on Trump’s ex advisor Carter Page. US officials confirmed that the FBI and Department of Justice obtained a secret FISA warrant that allowed them to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, which means that there was a suspicion that Page could have been an agent working on behalf of a foreign country.
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Trump’s foreign policy adviser Carter Page had pitched major deals for Russian Gazprom between 2004-2007 and was an investor in the Kremlin’s state-run gas company. But maybe not even this set off major alarms for Heat Street that started reporting about Donald Trump’s advisor’s ties to Russia before any major outlet paid attention to it. It wasn’t Carter Page’s work with Gazprom that first raised the eyebrows. It was rather the things that Page wrote and said related to Russia while critiquing America.
In his 2015 article for the economics publication Global Policy Page talked about segregation of the World Economy. He explicitly compared relationship between the U.S. and Russia as that of the slave owner to a slave. He said the U.S.’s approach to Russia was based on “biased philosophies” and “draconian tactics.” He also opposed America’s sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea.
In the interview to Bloomberg (before he was on Trump’s team) Page even complained that his personal company Global Energy Capital, suffered from American sanctions against Russia.
Carter Page has been promoting “closer relations” with Russia while a foreign policy advisor to Trump but his motivations were suspicious. Was it based on his ideological beliefs? Was it to benefit himself since he own business worked with Russian investments?
When Carter Page arrived in Moscow on 4 July 2017 as a “private individual” giving a lecture at the School of Economics the timing also strangely coincided with the annual Gazprom meeting, which takes place in Moscow in the beginning of July. Heat Street reported about his visit.
It was known that Page has also personally invested in Gazprom and remained a shareholder when he joined Trump’s campaign. He reportedly has established close connections with the leadership of Gazprom. Before moving to NY – and falling in with Trump– it was reported that his going-away party in Moscow gathered many Kremlin officials.
His visit to Moscow last July in the midst of the presidential campaign eventually raised red flags. His lecture delivered to the graduates of Russia’s elite school of economics on July 7th was once again critiquing America’s foreign policy for “often-hypocritical focus on democratization” while praising Russia for really moving ahead.
And while Page claimed that he didn’t represent Trump’s campaign while on “private individual” visit, Russian media took notice that Page met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Arkady Dvorkovich, and even speculated that other meetings took place behind the closed doors.
In November 2016 Heat Street reported that FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.
US officials now say that the FBI and Department of Justice did obtain a secret court order last summer that allowed them to conduct surveillance on Carter Page.
