Former CIA Director Leon Panetta said Thursday that news reports that former Trump campaign aide Carter Page disclosed a planned trip to Moscow last year to now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions was "part of the drip, drip, drip" coming from the various Russia probes.
"It's part of this drip, drip process of finding out exactly what kind of inner relationship there was between various individuals in the Trump campaign and Russia," Panetta, who also served as defense secretary in the Obama White House, told Erin Burnett on CNN.
"We are going through this process of finally finding out what's been involved here rather than having people, like the attorney general and others, be a lot more forthcoming about whether there were ties and efforts to work with the Russians," he said.
CNN reported Thursday that Page told the House Intelligence Committee in closed testimony he had mentioned to Sessions a Moscow trip that he was planning for July 2016.
Sessions denied having any knowledge of Trump campaign Russia ties in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January.
The attorney general made similar denials in two subsequent hearings before Congress on Russia since taking office.
"That's something that should have come out a long time ago," Panetta told Burnett on Thursday. "What it does is raises concerns with the American people about whether or not we are getting the straight story here."
He added the various Russia probes, including the one headed by special counsel Robert Mueller, will get to the truth about the Trump campaign and Russia.
"What the American people want to find is the truth," Panetta said. "Ultimately, the truth is going to come out.
"But it would be a lot better if people were more forthcoming about exactly what took place here.
"There may not be any connection directly with the president," he told Burnett. "We understand that.
"But, the fact is, we should know what contacts were made so that the American people, the intelligence committees, and certainly Bob Mueller, can determine just exactly what happened."
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