Carter Page defends himself on CNN

Former Trump advisor Carter Page defended himself during a CNN appearance on Saturday, amidst mounting reports about his alleged contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign.

“I was never, nothing I was ever asked to do or no information I was ever asked for, was anything beyond what you could see on CNN,” Page told CNN’s “Smerconish.”

“Nothing I ever talked about with any Russian official extends beyond that publicly available immaterial information.”

{mosads}Page’s appearance comes one day after CNN reported that Russia tried to infiltrate the Trump campaign through some of its advisors, including Page.

Other recent reports have said that a dossier compiled last year on the Trump campaign’s links to Russia spurred a secret court order to monitor Page and other Trump aides.

Page emphasized the use of the word “tried” in the headline of CNN’s latest report, implying that the Russians were not successful in their attempts to recruit operatives and infiltrate the campaign. 

“Someone is saying out there the word tried, right? And I’ve certainly seen a lot of tries going back for much of the last year: trying to put in false narratives over many may months,” he said.

Page has previously denied allegations that any of his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign were inappropriate, telling Fox News in an interview last month that accusations against him were a “false narrative.”

“I did nothing that could even be possibly viewed as helping them in any way,” he said at the time.

Page on Saturday slammed the dossier used to obtain the warrant through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as “dodgy,” criticizing the media and lawmakers.

“Michael, the only unwitting element that I’m most concerned about is the unwitting media and the unwitting members of Congress that really took on this dodgy dossier and actually read it in the congressional record,” he said.