Russian Spies Thought Trump Adviser Carter Page Was an 'Idiot'-But Still Tried to Recruit Him

A footnote left unredacted in the just-released memo ‘correcting the record’ on the Russia investigation shows why, as early as 2013, the FBI thought Page might be a Russian spy.

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY
02.25.18 11:33 AM ET

The bombshell is in the footnote.

Before the House Intelligence Committee could release its minority report defending the performance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department investigating ties between Trump campaign advisor Carter Page and the Russian intelligence services, large sections were blacked out, ostensibly for security reasons (PDF).

But the core argument still comes through clearly: the FBI had been watching Page as a potential Russian spy since 2013, long before Page was mentioned in the dossier of dirt on the Trump-Russia connection compiled by former British intelligence operative Christopher Steele over the summer and fall of 2016.

Indeed, the FBI had managed to bug what the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) considered a secure office in New York, and had picked up detailed conversations about recruitment efforts, including those apparently focused on Page. But to discover just how detailed, one must follow the footnotes.

At the bottom of page three in the Democratic memo, about half of the last paragraph is blacked out. It says Page, an energy consultant, had “an extensive record” doing something we are not allowed to read “prior to joining the Trump campaign.” It notes that he lived in Moscow from 2004 to 2007 and “pursued business deals with Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom.” And when “a Russian intelligence officer … targeted Page for recruitment, Page showed [something that’s blacked out].”

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