Senate Intelligence Committee demands cooperation of former Trump aide in Russia probe
Carter Page previously said he may not provide all the information it seeks.
-- The Senate Intelligence Committee has urged Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, to fully cooperate with its inquiries related to his communications with Russian officials, in light of a letter Page sent Thursday suggesting he may not provide all the information they requested.
“Mr. Page has indicated in correspondence to the Committee that he looks forward to working with us on this matter, and that our cooperation will help resolve what he claims are false allegations. For that to happen, Mr. Page must supply the requested documents to the Committee,” the panel’s top members, Chairman Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Virginia, wrote in a statement.
In a letter dated April 28, the committee asked for a list of all meetings between Page and any Russian official or representative of Russian business interests between June 16, 2015, and January 20, 2017. It also asked for a list of all meetings between any individual with the Trump campaign and Russians, any records about Page’s communications with Russians, and any information regarding his financial and real estate holdings in Russia.
The committee has requested that all of this information be provided in advance of his in-person interview with the committee. There are two deadlines: one on May 9, for the list of Page’s meetings, and May 19 for everything else.
In his written response, Page calls the committee’s requests a “cumbersome chore” and suggests it first consult the Obama administration for its records of conversations monitored while Page was under FISA surveillance.
“As a lone individual, I can assure you that my personal administrative capabilities pale in comparison to the clerical juggernaut represented by the numerous staff in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. Government which have heretofore been allegedly involved in this unscrupulous surveillance for many months on end,” Page writes in the letter dated May 4.
The subject line of the letter is “Response to your request for even more irrelevant data.”
The Washington Post originally reported that the FBI obtained a FISA warrant to put Page under surveillance last summer as part of its investigation into possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Page later told ABC News that he had “no recollection” of discussing Trump’s willingness to ease up sanctions on Russia but that “something may have come up in a conversation.”
In its statement Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee said that if Page chooses not to provide the material requested, it would “consider its next steps at that time.”
Asked about the Senate statement that said he is not cooperating, Page replied, “Tied up on the more substantive matters today.” He offered no further comment.
ABC News' Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.