Yahoo News cited an unidentified “Western intelligence source” as saying that US officials have received intelligence reports that during his trip to Moscow in July, Page met with Igor Sechin, chairman of state-owned Rosneft and one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.
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Sen. Harry Reid (D – NV) had urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look closely at Carter Page for having made a business trip to Moscow back in July, and also longtime Trump friend Roger Stone for purported ties with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
US intelligence officials are looking into a Donald TrumpDonald TrumpHow Clinton’s Wellesley background will benefit her in debate Longtime Clinton aide Reines playing Trump in mock debates: report Clinton allies see double standard and sexism in debate MORE foreign policy adviser over possible ties to Russia, Yahoo News reported Friday. Page has been consistently critical of Western attempts to sanction Russian companies and officials over Putin’s incursions into Ukraine. A former Russian security official, Diveykin now serves as deputy chief for internal policy and is believed by USA officials to have responsibility for intelligence collected by Russian agencies about the US election, the Western intelligence source said.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks last month called him an “informal foreign adviser” who “does not speak for Mr. Trump or the campaign”.
Asked about the Yahoo report, Trump’s communications director Jason Miller told The Hill that Page has “never been a part of our campaign”. He says the U.S. is hurting profits in Russian Federation because of its “hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption, and regime change”. Isikoff makes the case that it could have happened and it’s certainly news that the intelligence community is looking into Page’s meetings with people close to Putin, but that’s not proof anything improper happened.
He now heads Global Energy Capital, a New York-based investment firm that says it focuses on the energy sector in emerging markets.
Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the November 8 election, has accused him of being too sympathetic to Putin. During briefings given to senior members of Congress about the possibility that the Russian government is trying to tamper with the presidential election, intelligence officials have discussed Trump adviser Carter Page, who runs an energy investment firm that specializes in Russia and Europe, according to the site.
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Both Trump and the Kremlin have dismissed these suggestions as baseless. They also claimed he had made comments “critical” of Obama Administration policy whilst in Russian Federation.
