McCabe pressed by Republicans over flaws in the Carter Page FISA process
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe grilled by GOP over FISA flaws; reaction from former DOJ official Francey Hakes
Carter Page, a former Trump aide whom the FBI surveilled during the Russia probe, has filed a $75 million lawsuit against the bureau, Justice Department and former FBI Director James Comey.
The lawsuit filed Friday accuses the FBI, DOJ and Comey of violating Page's constitutional "and other legal rights in connection with unlawful surveillance and investigation of him by the United States Government."
"This case is about holding accountable the entities and individuals who are responsible for the most egregious violation and abuse of the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] FISA statute since it was enacted over forty years ago," the complaint states.
Former FBI Director James Comey speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The FBI had relied on information from former English spy Christopher Steele's since-debunked dossier in an effort to obtain FISA warrants against Page, whom Steele alleged had ties to a Russian influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
The lawsuit cites four requests the FBI filed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in an effort to obtain more information on Page as part of its "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation. A 2019 Justice Department inspector general report found that the FBI made a number of significant errors in its applications.
Niether the FBI nor DOJ immediately responded to inquiries from Fox News.
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"The facts of this case ... have been relatively well-briefed," attorney Tim Parlatore, who is representing Page, told Fox News on Saturday.
"Between the Horowitz report and various congressional [investigations] on this subject, there are no bombshell revelations in this lawsuit other than Page is seeking to be made whole from the individuals who have completely destroyed his life."
The lawsuit opens with November testimony from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who said during a November hearing before the Senate Judiciary Commitee that "any material misrepresentation or error in a FISA application is unacceptable," and admitted that the FBI is "responsible for the work that went into that FISA."
Former Trump adviser Carter Page. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
McCabe, however, also defended the investigation in his opening testimony.
"We didn't open a case because we liked one candidate or didn't like the other one," he said at the time. "...We opened a case to find out how the Russians might be undermining our elections. We opened a case because it was our obligation — our duty — to do so. We did our job."
The 2019 IG report, while noting errors in the FBI's FISA application process, also found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding the probe's launch and efforts to file for FISA warrants to spy on Page.
The DOJ said in June that at least two of the FBI’s four surveillance applications against Page mentioned in the complaint were invalid, according to a declassified summary of a DOJ assessment released by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
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Parlatore said Page is "feeling pretty good" about the lawsuit.
"We have four firms working on this," Parlatore said. "[Page] has been beaten up for the past four years. Now is his opportunity to get accountability and justice."
The lawyer added that the case, "although politically charged," is "about the law, the facts and what they've done to Carter." The firms representing Page "intentionally waited to file" the lawsuit until after the 2020 presidential election in order to avoid politicization.
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