The House Intelligence Committee released a lengthy transcript of an interview former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page gave last week.
Page, an energy consultant, has been at the center of the multiple investigations into possible campaign collusion with Russia because of his appearance in the infamous dossier of research written by former British spy Christopher Steele.
According to the House committee’s transcript, Page pleaded the Fifth to avoid providing documents sought by the panel. He was subpoenaed on Oct. 4 to appear before the committee.
According to the transcript, Page reiterated that he has “never, never” met or spoken to President Trump.
He also denied allegations made against him in the dossier, which was financed by the Clinton campaign and DNC and authored by former British spy Christopher Steele.
“Every word in that about me is completely false,” Page said in an exchange with South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy.
Steele alleges in the dossier that when Page made a trip to Moscow in July 2016, he met with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Kremlin insider Igor Diveykin. Steele, a former MI6 agent, claimed that Page was the Trump campaign’s middleman to discuss collusion as well as ways to end sanctions against Russian businesses.
Page vehemently denied meeting with the two Russians. He acknowledged that he met one top Russian government official on his July 2016 trip, Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia’s deputy prime minister.
Page told reporters in Aug. 2016 about a brief encounter he had with Dvorkovich.
After his trip to Moscow, Page sent an email to several Trump campaign officials offering a summary of his overseas visit.
“In a private conversation, 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 problem,” stated the email, which was read aloud in the interview by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat.
Page downplayed the significance of the exchange, telling Schiff that it lasted less than 10 seconds.
Page, a former Navy officer with business experience in Moscow, also said he saw “no evidence at all” of members of the Trump campaign conspiring to hack or release emails stolen from the Clinton campaign and DNC.
Read it here:
Carter Page House Intelligence Committee transcript by Chuck Ross on Scribd