Carter Page shared in an email details about 'private conversation' with Russian official

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Transcripts released Monday night by the House Intelligence Committee show that Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to President Trump during his campaign, sent an email to other members of the campaign describing his July 2016 trip to Moscow, revealing he had a "private conversation" with a top Russian official who had good things to say about Trump.

Previously, Page had said that after he gave a speech at Moscow's New Economic School, he only exchanged pleasantries with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. In the email, Page wrote that Dvorkovich "expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work toward devising better solutions in response to a vast range of current international problems." Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) read the email during Page's closed-door meeting with the committee last week, and Page responded by saying he didn't actually talk to any officials, but gleaned their views by watching and reading Russian media and chatting with scholars.

Page, who once worked as an energy consultant in Moscow, also testified that he told Attorney General Jeff Sessions, then a senator and major Trump supporter, he was going to go to Russia, and said he "probably" told national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis about the trip beforehand and definitely told him about it when he came back. The House Intelligence Committee is investigating Russian meddling in the election, and Page requested that the transcript of his testimony be made public but also told The Washington Post in a text message Monday he is "working on my lawsuit tonight that will get to the bottom of the real interference in the 2016 election, by the [United States government]. I've played this nonsensical game long enough and am not interested in this latest round tonight."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.