Carter Page on FBI corruption and partisanship: 'I'm hoping for some truth'
Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page discusses FBI corruption involving Igor Danchenko and how government surveillance transformed his life.
EXCLUSIVE: Carter Page, who served as a CIA operational contact and an FBI informant, was "never paid one cent" by the U.S. government, despite assisting in counterintelligence-related activities pursued by Russia and other foreign nations against the United States, telling Fox News Digital that his work was solely to serve his country and slamming the bureau for "using taxpayer resources" to support a political agenda.
Page’s comments come after it was revealed during the trial of Igor Danchenko this week that the FBI paid Danchenko, the Russian national who served as the primary sub-source for ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his anti-Trump dossier, more than $200,000 to be a confidential human source for the bureau from January 2017 through October 2020.
FBI PAID IGOR DANCHENKO MORE THAN $200,000 TO SERVE AS CONFIDENTIAL HUMAN SOURCE
The dossier, despite lack of corroboration from the FBI, U.S. intelligence agencies, Danchenko and Steele himself, served as the basis for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant and its subsequent renewals against Page.
Page had been a CIA operational contact from 2008 to 2013, and had similar interactions with the FBI. Page had assisted the CIA in combating counterintelligence threats posed by Russia and foreign countries against the United States.
Former Trump adviser Carter Page. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"I was never paid one cent," Page told Fox News Digital. "Everything I did was to serve my country."
"I risked my life countless times for this country around the world, and was never paid one penny by the CIA, FBI or any of the other U.S. intelligence agencies that I loyally served for many years," Page said.
"Based on everything in the initial public record which has been disclosed thus far, my only ‘payment’ has consisted of the most torturous and deadly attack by the government’s agents ever seen in the 44-year history of the broken FISA statute," Page said, urging Congress to "immediately repeal this broken legislation as soon as possible next year."
Page has fallen at the center of the Trump-Russia probe and the years-long investigation into its origins led by Special Counsel John Durham.
The first charge in Durham's investigation was against FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty after he admitted to altering an email about Carter Page to say that he was "not a source" for another government agency, even though Page was a source for the CIA. The Justice Department relied on Clinesmith’s assertion as it submitted its third and final renewal application in 2017 to eavesdrop on Page under FISA.
Kevin Clinesmith was charged with making a false statement as part of Special Counsel John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
DURHAM PROBE: FBI OFFERED CHRISTOPHER STEELE $1 MILLION TO CORROBORATE TRUMP ALLEGATIONS IN DOSSIER
Durham’s charging document revealed that another FBI official took Clinesmith’s altered email, relied on it, and signed and submitted the renewed FISA application to the FISC.
Page graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served on active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1993 until 1998 reaching the rank of lieutenant. Page later served as an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and focused his research on energy-related developments.
Page eventually became the chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch’s energy and power group in New York and later volunteered as an informal foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign in 2016. Page said he never met or spoke to Trump.
Page’s comments come after FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson testified that Danchenko was paid more than $200,000 by the FBI for his work over the three-and-a-half-year period he served as an FBI informant.
ALEXANDRIA, VA - NOVEMBER 10: Russian analyst Igor Danchenko arrives at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse before being arraigned on November 10, 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. Danchenko has been charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI regarding the sources of the information he gave the British firm that created the so-called "Steele Dossier," which alleged potential ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))
Helson testified that, at times, Danchenko was paid up to $3,000 by the FBI for conducting just one meeting.
Helson testified that he put in a request for another $346,000 payment for Danchenko when he was closed as an FBI source, but said that request was rejected.
If the final lump sum was approved, Danchenko would have been paid more than $500,000 by the FBI.
But Fox News first reported in 2020 that Danchenko had also been the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011.
That FBI investigation into Danchenko focused on his contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers and reported attempts to facilitate payments for classified information.
Durham charged Danchenko with five counts of making false statements to the FBI. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed this week during testimony that the FBI offered to pay Christopher Steele $1 million in 2016 to provide corroboration to the information and allegations included in the dossier used as the basis for the Page FISA warrant. Steele could not do so.
Igor Danchenko, the primary sub-source for the Steele dossier, was indicted as part of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigations into the origins of the probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta))
"The level of deceit, cover-ups and corruption has now continued to reach all-time highs," Page said. "This is typical of the same kind of revolving door politics which Chris Wray and his FISA abuse law partners have continued to play since the very beginning of this scandal."
Page said the FBI has been "using taxpayer resources to support their political and business allies while putting the lives of innocent Americans at risk through this long, grueling process."
He added: "To characterize their unprecedented levels of fraud as truly disgusting would certainly be a vast understatement."
Durham hammered FBI counterintelligence supervisory analyst Brian Auten this week over the unverified dossier, questioning why he took information from the dossier, without corroboration, and included it in the FISA warrant for Page.
"As an analyst, I’m not writing the application," Auten testified.
Special Counsel John Durham. (REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson)
But Durham continued to press him, saying: "You and your colleagues took the information…and put it in the Carter Page FISA application."
"You didn’t have corroboration from FBI databases, from other intelligence community agencies, or from Christopher Steele and it still went into a FISA application?" Durham asked.
"Correct," Auten testified.
As for the status of Durham’s investigation, Page told Fox News Digital that he thinks the special counsel, "like Attorney General Sessions and Attorney General Barr," is a "good-hearted and well-meaning individual."
General view of the J. Edgar Hoover F.B.I. Building in Washington, U.S., March 10, 2019. REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert (Reuters/Mary F. Calvert)
"Unfortunately, both past and present, they have been up against some of the dirtiest and most unscrupulous attorneys in the history of the United States," Page said. "Over recent days, this scandal has now officially grown far worse than anyone could have ever imagined."
FLASHBACK: CARTER PAGE FISA WARRANT LACKED PROBABLE CAUSE, DOJ ADMITS IN DECLASSIFIED ASSESSMENT
He added: "Their corrupt scheme against America was infinitely worse than Watergate."
Page filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, the FBI, and current and former officials, including Auten, regarding FISA abuse. The case was dismissed last month, but Page and his attorneys filed a motion to overturn the dismissal. The Justice Department requested an extension to file a response.
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