Page met with Russian officials, transcript says
WASHINGTON – Carter Page admitted to meeting Kremlin officials when he was a foreign policy adviser to President Trump’s campaign, despite initial denials he had no contact with senior Russian officials at that time, according to a transcript of Page’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee released Monday night.
During a seven- hour, closed- door interview before the committee last Thursday, Page acknowledged that he met with Russian deputy prime minster Arkadiy Dvorkovich during a July 2016 trip to Moscow.
Under questioning from Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee’s senior Democrat, Page said he sent a memo to the Trump campaign stating that “Dvorkovich expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work together toward devising better solutions in response to the vast range of current international problems.”
Page also told committee members that he told Jeff Sessions, who was then a U. S. senator and is now attorney general, and Sam Clovis, then the national co- chairman of Trump’s campaign, that he was traveling to Moscow to make a speech at the New Economic School. It was on that trip that he met with Russian officials.
“I mentioned it briefly to Senator Sessions as I was walking out the door ( of a Republican club on Capitol Hill),” Page testified.
“I forget the exact date, but it was the Thursday night before I flew to Moscow to givemy speech. So I mentioned it to him in passing ... as we were walking out the door.”
On Oct. 18, Sessions testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was not aware of anyone in the Trump campaign that had communications with the Russians.
Page also acknowledged that he solicited suggestions for his Moscow speech from the campaign.
Page characterized his July 2016 trip to Russia as a “private” trip and said his interactions with Russians were largely confined to the “man on the street,” Schiff said in a statement Monday night.
Perhaps most important, Schiff said, Page “detailed his meetings with Russian government officials and others, and said that they provided him with insights and outreach that he was interested in sharing with the campaign.”
The committee’s Republican majority did not comment on the transcript Monday.