Russian spy targeted former Trump adviser Carter Page in 2013

In 2013, Carter Page, an energy consultant and future campaign adviser to Donald Trump, was targeted for recruitment by Russian spies, BuzzFeed News reports.

Page first met Victor Podobnyy, a Russian intelligence operative working at the time at Moscow's U.N. office in New York, in January 2013 at an energy conference. In January 2015, after federal investigators broke up a Russian spy ring looking for details on how to develop alternative energy, Podobnyy and two other Russians were charged by the U.S. government for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government, BuzzFeed News reports. In a complaint filed by the government, there is the transcript of a recorded conversation between Podobnyy and another man, with Podobnyy discussing his attempt to recruit someone referred to as "Male-1." Page confirmed to BuzzFeed News that he is "Male-1."

The complaint says that from January to June 2013, Page met with Podobnyy several times, corresponded with him via email, and "provided documents to [Podobnyy] about the energy business." Page told BuzzFeed News he never gave Podobnyy any sensitive information or material, and he believes the complaint was written in a way that made it clear he was the person Podobnyy was trying to recruit. In a previous conversation with BuzzFeed News, Page was asked if he ever met with Russian intelligence operatives, and he said he was "very careful when I say 'never,' but even if I had inadvertently had 'contact' such as briefly saying hello to someone who might fall under that label, in passing, nothing I ever said to them or anyone else would've ever broken any law." For those unfamiliar with Page, get to know him through this lengthy interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Catherine Garcia

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