A former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign has told a House committee he had contact with a high-level Russian official while on a trip to Russia last year.
In a transcript released Monday by the House intelligence committee, Carter Page tells the committee he "briefly said hello to" Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich when he traveled to Russia for a speech. Page also tells the panel he had informed some members of the Trump campaign about the trip and he had planned to share information with them about what he had learned.
Page has often been contradictory about whom he met on the trip, but his testimony Thursday was under oath.
Page says he had no personal information about Russian election interference.
According to Politico, Page struck a deal to release his interview transcript publicly, and the committee posted it — with classified details redacted — Monday evening.
Highlights of the transcript include:
- Page did not acknowledge in his opening statement the consensus of the U.S. intelligence community that Russian players had interfered in the election.
- Page asked several campaign officials to OK his trip to Moscow, including then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, then-Trump adviser Hope Hicks, and Trump campaign policy aide J.D. Gordon.
- Page, after his Moscow trip, told the campaign that in a "private conversation" with Russia's deputy prime minister, who had "expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work together toward" solving international problems. He also said he emailed campaign advisers he would send them "some incredible insights and outreach I've received from a few Russian legislations and senior members of the presidential administration here."
- Page said he had met with the FBI in its ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
- Page invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid turning over relevant documents to the committee.
Newsmax writer Cathy Burke contributed to this report.