Carter Page: Pretext for FBI investigation was 'outrageous'
Report says emails show pressure in the FBI to probe the 2016 Trump campaign; Carter Page reacts on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.' #Tucker
Rep. Trey Gowdy said that Carter Page, the former campaign adviser to Donald Trump, was more bumbling detective than secret agent after the Justice Department on Saturday released a set of documents, once deemed top secret, relating to the wiretapping of Page.
“My take is that Carter Page is more like Inspector Gadget than Jason Bourne or James Bond,” Gowdy, R-S.C., said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
While the documents were heavily redacted in places, the New York Times reported that visible portions of the documents show the FBI telling the intelligence court that Page "has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government." The agency also told the court that "the FBI believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government."
Page has denied being a Russian agent.
After a redaction, the Times reported that the application to wiretap Page included a partial sentence: "... undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law."
The surveillance of Page became a contentious matter between Republican and Democratic lawmakers earlier this year. Republicans alleged the FBI had abused its surveillance powers and improperly obtained the warrant.
Gowdy on Sunday noted that the FBI never indicted Page following the investigation.
“This is an investigation and not all lead to indictments,” Gowdy said. “I have a different standard between investigating.”
House Democrats over the weekend, however, were quick to say that the documents bolstered their arguments.
"For more than a year, House Republicans have bullied the Department of Justice and FBI to release highly sensitive documents to derail the Special Counsel's and other legitimate national security investigations and cover for the President," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "For the sake of our national security and our democracy, these vital investigations must be allowed to continue unhindered by Republican interference. The GOP must cease their attacks on our law enforcement and intelligence communities, and finally decide where their loyalty lies."
Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, said the documents underscore the "legitimate concern" the FBI had about Page's activities.
Yet Schiff added that the materials shouldn't have been released during an ongoing investigation because of national security. He blamed Trump for making public House Republicans' initial memo about the FISA applications, a move by Trump that the congressman called "nakedly political and self-interested, and designed to to (sic) interfere with the Special Counsel's investigation."
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