Former Trump Adviser Carter Page Was Being Monitored by FBI (Report)

The FBI got a warrant from a secret court last summer to monitor the communications of former Donald Trump adviser Carter Page, which was part of an investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

According to law enforcement and other government officials, the Post spoke with, the FBI and Justice Department were able to secure the warrant after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause that Page was acting as a Russian agent. The 90-day warrant was renewed more than once since it was initially granted, the Post reported.

Page is an investment banker who formerly worked at Merrill Lynch in Moscow and has said he was once an investor in Gazprom, a massive energy company majority owned by the Russian government. Page told FBI director James Comey last September that he had disposed of his interest in Gazprom.

However, the government’s application for the surveillance order laid out a case for Page being an agent of the Russian government, mentioning contacts he had with a Russian intelligence officer in 2013 and alleging that he had other contacts with Russian agents that had not been disclosed. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requests must be approved by top officials at the FBI and Justice Department.

“This confirms all of my suspicions about unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance,” Page told the Post, comparing his situation to the FBI and Justice Department’s surveillance of Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have nothing to hide.”

Page has not been accused of any crimes, and most investigations of this nature don’t result in criminal charges, the Post reported.