Former Trump adviser Carter Page has declined to provide records of his communications with Russians to the Senate intelligence committee, saying that anything of note has already been recorded by former President Barack Obama’s administration.
Mr Page, who advised President Donald Trump on foreign policy matters during the 2016 campaign, is the subject of investigation by the FBI and congressional committees looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government. In a letter sent to the Senate intelligence committee, Mr Page blasted the request for his contacts saying that the US government had already been keeping tabs on him.
“I suspect the physical reaction of the Clinton/Obama regime perpetrators will be more along the lines of severe vomiting when all the facts are eventually exposed regarding the steps taken by the US Government to influence the 2016 election,” Mr Page wrote in response to an April letter he received from the Senate committee.
Mr Trump and those loyal to him have charged that Mr Obama wiretapped the Trump campaign. Those claims have been denied by the FBI repeatedly.
A joint statement from the top senators on the intelligence committee, chairman Richard Burr and ranking member Mark Warner, said that they will continue to investigate Russia’s influence in the 2016 election whether Mr Page cooperates or not.
“Three days ago, Carter Page told Fox News he was cooperating with the committee’s investigation into Russian activities surrounding the 2016 Election,” the statement said. “Today we have learned that may not be the case.”
The two senators continued to say that Mr Page had previously indicated to the committee that he wanted to cooperate with the investigation and that doing so would only help to resolve claims that he colluded with Russians. Federal investigators believe that he was knowingly or unknowingly being cultivated as a Russian asset by Russian spies. Mr Page denies all these allegations.
The Senate committee had previously indicated that it would take further steps if Mr Page refused to provide the documents they asked. The committee also sent requests for records to Trump advisers Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and Paul Manafort.
Source: The Independent
