President Donald Trump’s former campaign foreign policy advisor, Carter Page, re-entered the spotlight during a recent appearance on MSNBC. Speaking with nighttime anchor Chris Hayes, Page admitted he “may have” discussed matters pertaining to Russia with George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign foreign advisor who took a plea deal for lying to the FBI in a previous interview. No stranger to investigations, Page was previously well known for his own public (and private) comments regarding the many probes into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia. But then he decided to appear on CNN this Friday.
The day before, while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors, Page admitted he had spoken to then-campaign advisor Jeff Sessions about his July 2016 trip to Russia. Sitting down with The Lead‘s Jake Tapper on Friday, however, the former campaign advisor seemed slightly more forthcoming with what was said on Thursday. Claiming the Russia trip was “totally unrelated to the campaign,” Page said he mentioned it to Sessions while heading to an elevator with him after a dinner.
Unsatisfied with the answer, however, Tapper asked, “Is he the only one on the campaign that knew about the trip?” Page’s response? “I mentioned it to a few people.” He refused to clarify who else he’d “mentioned” the July 2016 trip to, but did add “it’ll come out” since “things keep leaking” throughout the various investigations. Even so, per a New York Times article detailing Page’s Thursday testimony, he apparently “sent an email to at least one Trump campaign aide describing insights he had after conversations with government officials, legislators and business executives during his time in Moscow.”
(Via CNN and New York Times)