In wake of FISA warrant, Carter Page makes stunning Trump-Russia confession
Over the weekend we saw the public release of the original FISA warrant application against Donald Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. This made clear that the FBI was acting in good faith, and had a federal judge’s approval, when it decided to wiretap Page. We still don’t know the results of the Page investigation – but we can thank Page himself for helping spell out what was going on between him and Russia.
The FISA application raised the question of whether Carter Page was acting as an agent of the Russian government. Page is denying this. And again, we don’t know what the FBI learned about Page during the course of its surveillance. But Page, who seems to love appearing on television and running his mouth way too carelessly, admitted on-air to CNN’s Jake Tapper yesterday morning that he was an “informal adviser” to the Kremlin. Oops.
So what’s the difference between a “foreign agent” of the Kremlin and an “informal adviser” to the Kremlin? For starters, we have no idea what “informal adviser” is supposed to mean. But Page is acknowledging that he was working for the Russian government in some capacity, which is a stunning admission, considering that he was also a Donald Trump campaign adviser.
Does Carter Page’s admission mean the he’s in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act? We’re not sure. That would depend on what he was specifically doing on the Kremlin’s behalf, and beyond Page’s own admission that he was an informal Kremlin adviser, we don’t know what he was doing. All of these details will come out in the end one way or the other. But it shouldn’t be overlooked that, even as Page is insisting he didn’t violate any laws, he’s also flatly admitting that he was an “informal adviser” to the Kremlin – and he was also a campaign adviser to Donald Trump.
