"The RU spies, however, had one promising lead...an energy consultant based in NYC. Unlike the women, he was eager to help. And, it appeared, keen to make $$$ in Moscow. There was a drawback: The source—whom the FBI called “Male-1”—was something of a dimwit." Carter Page.
"He flies to Moscow more often than I do. He got hooked on [the Russian state energy company] GAZPROM, thinking that if they have a project, he could rise up. Maybe he can. I don’t know, but it’s obvious he wants to earn loads of money."
GAZPROM, oh really.
GAZPROM, oh really.
"Male-1 [CARTER] co-operated, although he says he didn't know the RU was a spy. He even handed him docs about the energy world.
This was a strange business—Kremlin ofcrs careening around Manhattan..and an American intel source who spent more time in Moscow than his RU handlers."
This was a strange business—Kremlin ofcrs careening around Manhattan..and an American intel source who spent more time in Moscow than his RU handlers."
"The American willing to provide info to Putin’s foreign intel officers rented a working space at 590 Madison Avenue. The building was linked by a glass atrium to a well-known New York landmark, Trump Tower." 🚩 🙄 Well, that's convenient! 🙃
"When not on his Cannondale mountain bike, he [Carter Page] is typically dressed in a suit and tie. When he is nervous, he grins. One person who met him around this period described the encounter as “excruciating.” Page was “awkward” and “uncomfortable” and “broke into a sweat.”
"Page’s résumé was curious...He spent 5 yrs in the navy and served as a Marine intel ofcr in the western Sahara. During his navy days, he spent lavishly and drove a black Mercedes, according to a friend from his academy class, Richard Guerin." Don't all Marines drive Mercedes? 😳
"Page’s British academic supervisors failed his doctoral thesis twice, an unusual move. In a report they described his work as “verbose” and “vague”. Page responded by angrily accusing his examiners of “anti-Russian bias”.
Hmmm, early Russia lover, lol.
Hmmm, early Russia lover, lol.
Page’s apparent RU sympathies were evident from much earlier. In 1998 Page spent 3 mos working for the Eurasia Group, a strategy consulting firm. Its founder, Ian Bremmer, later described Page as his “most wackadoodle alumnus."
"In 2004 Page moved to Moscow, where he became an energy consultant w/Merrill Lynch...while working as an investment banker...he struck up a relationship w/Gazprom. He advised Gazprom on transactions...He bought Gazprom shares." 🚩
"...few people in Moscow’s foreign biz community knew of him...“He wasn’t great and he wasn’t terrible,” his former boss...said, adding that Page was “w/o any special talents or accomplishments,” “in no way exceptional...” Trump: he's great let's make him one of my FP experts! 🤪
You should be asking yourself right about now, WHY, this person - who both American and Russian business and FP experts described as "underwhelming" - why was he sent (by Ed Cox of NYGOP) to Trump. 🚩 🙄
"3 yrs later, Page returned to NY and to his new ofc next to TrumpTower....[H]e set up a priv equity business, Global Energy Capital LLC. His partner was RU—a wealthy former Gazprom manager called Sergei Yatsenko. Did Yatsenko know Podobnyy and Sporyshev?" (Carter's RU handlers.)
"In the worsening dispute between Putin and the Obama admin, Page sided w/Moscow....In a blog post for Global Policy...he wrote that Putin wasn’t to blame for the 2014 Ukraine conflict. The WH superior “smack-down” approach had “started the crisis in the first place.” Sick. 😳
"...it was Putin who had smuggled tanks across the border into east Ukraine. Not that Page’s opinions counted for much. Global Policy had a small circulation...His relationship with the journal fizzled out..."
"...when he wrote an opinion piece lavishly praising a pro-Russian candidate ahead of the U.S. presidential election—Trump.
And then something odd happened."
And then something odd happened."
"In March 2016 candidate Trump met w/the Wa Po's editorial board. At this point it seemed likely that Trump would clinch the Republican nomination. Foreign affairs came up. Who were the candidate’s FP advisers? Trump read five names. The second was “Carter Page, PhD.” 🔥
"One former Eurasia Group colleague said he was stunned when he discovered Page had mysteriously become one of Trump’s foreign policy advisers. “I nearly dropped my coffee,” he told me...."
"...The colleague added: “We had wanted people who could engage in critical analysis of what’s going on. This is a guy who has NO critical insight into the situation. He wasn’t a smart person.” 🙄 👏🏽👏🏽🚩
"Page’s real qualification for the role, it appeared, had little to do w/his...CV. What appeared to recommend him to Trump was his boundless enthusiasm for Putin and his corresponding loathing of Obama and Clinton." And that Trump's buddy Ed Cox pushed him in front of Trump. 🤣
"Podobnyy and Sporyshev approached their duties with a certain cynicism laced w/boredom and a shot of homesickness...FBI tapes revealed. Page, by contrast, was the rarest of things: an American who apparently believed that Putin was wise and virtuous and kind." Puke 🤮
"...the RU spies had been spirited out of the US. In 2015 their ring was broken up. As accredited diplos, they were entitled to fly home. Buryakov was less fortunate. At the time...Page joined Trump’s campaign, Buryakov pleaded guilty to acting as an unreg'd foreign agent." GOOD.
"In 7/16 Page went back to Russia, in a trip approved by the Trump campaign...Moscow sources suggest that certain people in the RU gov't arranged Page’s visit. “We were told: ‘Can you bring this guy over?’” one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity." Oh really? 🤨
"One of RU's top priv universities, the New Economics School, invited Page to give a public lecture. This was no ordinary event but the prestigious commencement address to its class of graduating students. The venue was Moscow’s World Trade Center." I'll say that's pretty big.
"Russia’s media hailed Page as a “celebrated American economist.” This, despite the fact that Page’s lecture was distinctly strange—a content-free ramble verging on the bizarre. Page, it seemed, was criticizing U.-.S-led attempts at “regime change” in the former Soviet world."
So, they appealed to Page's ego. Those mean Brits and US biz and FP experts were awful to him, but the RUSSIANS saw greatness in him! What an easy mark 😌
Well, this is very interesting: "Shaun Walker, the Guardian’s Russia correspondent, had attended an event given by Page the previous evening. He described Page’s PowerPoint presentation as “really weird..."
Page's presentation, "...it looked as if it had been done for a Kazakhstan 🚩 gas conference,” Walker said. “He was talking about the US’ attempts to spread democracy, and how disgraceful they were.” (Kazakh $$$ has been laundered thru Trump properties.)
"Page was Trump’s leading RU expert. And yet in the question-and-answer session it emerged that Page couldn’t really UNDERSTAND OR SPEAK RUSSIAN. Those seeking answers on Trump’s view of sanctions were disappointed." WTAF? 🤪😆
"“I’m not here at all talking about my work outside of my academic endeavor,” Page said. At the end, Walker said, Page was “spirited off.”
Clearly, Page was reluctant to give any clues about a Trump administration’s RU policy....So what was he doing in Moscow?"
Clearly, Page was reluctant to give any clues about a Trump administration’s RU policy....So what was he doing in Moscow?"
"According to the Steele dossier...the real purpose of Page’s trip was clandestine. He had come to meet with the Kremlin. And in particular with Igor Sechin....Sechin was a former spy...and had Russia’s entire security services at his disposal."
"In 2014 Page had written a sycophantic piece that lauded Sechin for his “great accomplishments....Sechin was a wronged RU statesman, in Page’s view, unfairly punished and sanctioned by the Obama WH."
"11 days after Page flew back from RU to NY, Steele filed a memo to Fusion GPS, the biz intel firm headed by former WSJ reporter Glenn Simpson. Simpson had initially begun investigating Trump and RU at the behest of the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website."
"Only later— once Trump had all but secured the nomination—did a law firm employed by the Dems take over the Trump contract. The fact that Repubs opposed to Trump had begun the inquiry was nowhere to be found in Nunes’ memo." Of course not, doesn't fit the #MAGA dupes narrative.
"Steele’s info came from anon sources. In this case that was someone described as “close” to Sechin. Seemingly, there was a mole deep inside Rosneft—a person who discussed sensitive matters w/other Russians.The mole may have been unaware its information was being telegraphed..."
"In Moscow, Page had held two secret meetings...The first was with Sechin. It’s unclear where this meeting, if it happened, took place. The second was w/Igor Diveykin, a senior official from Putin’s presidential admin and its internal political dept."
"...Sechin raised/Page the Kremlin’s desire for the US to lift sanctions on RU This was Moscow’s strategic priority...If a future Trump admin dropped..sanctions...there could be lucrative contracts for U.S. energy firms. 🚩🚩🚩Page’s reaction to this offer was positive..."
"Steele obtained further information from his high-placed source, which said that the Sechin meeting had taken place on either 7/7 or 7/8/16 —the same day as or the day after Page’s graduate lecture."
"Sechin was so keen to lift personal and corp Western sanctions that he offered Page an unusual bribe. This was “the brokerage of up to a 19 per cent (privatized) stake in Rosneft in return.” In other words, a chunk of Rosneft was being sold off."
"Page “expressed interest” and confirmed that were Trump to become US president, “then sanctions on Russia would be lifted,” Steele wrote.
Sechin’s offer was the carrot.
There was also a stick."
Sechin’s offer was the carrot.
There was also a stick."
"The ofcl reportedly told Page that the Kremlin had assembled a dossier of compromising material on Clinton....However, according to Steele, Diveykin also delivered an ominous warning...that...RU leadership had damaging material on Trump, too. Trump “should bear this in mind" 🙄
"This was blackmail, clear and simple...Page was the go-between meant to relay this blunt message to Trump. He was part of a chain of cultivation and conspiracy that stretched from Moscow to Fifth Avenue. Allegedly, that is."
However, in testimony to Nunes’ House Intel committee last Nov Page admitted meeting Andrey Baranov, Rosneft’s head of investor relations. Did sanctions come up? “Not directly,” Page replied. Did Baranov talk about privatization? He “may briefly have mentioned it,” Page admitted"
"Page’s problem...was that he had an unfortunate habit of seeking out RU spies...like Podobnyy and...Sechin....And RU ambassadors like Sergei Kislyak, whom Page met in summer 2016 at the RNC." #TreasonAtTheRNC
"Page’s multiple interactions with senior RUs were a matter of growing concern to US intel. In the coming months, the FBI seemed to grow suspicious that Page might be a RU agent. That summer the bureau decided it was going to bug Page’s phone calls."
"This was no easy matter. To do this lawfully, federal agents had to obtain a warrant. Any application of this kind was voluminous—as then FBI Director James Comey put it, these were often thicker than his wrists.
The application included Page’s earlier testimony to the FBI."
The application included Page’s earlier testimony to the FBI."
"In 6/13 counter-intel agent Gregory Monaghan interviewed Page in connection w/ the Podobnyy–SVR spy ring. Page said he’d done nothing wrong. Since then, Page had held further meetings w/RU operatives that had not been publicly disclosed, the application said." Idiot! 🤪
The FBI presented its evidence before a...FISA, court, which handles sensitive nat sec cases. The bureau argued that there were strong grounds to believe that Page was acting as a RU agent. The judge agreed. From this point on, the FBI was able to access Page’s electronic comms."
Seems it was his disloyal behavior of meeting w/RU spies in 2013 - one who was later convicted of being a foreign agent - coupled with him picking back up this activity in 2016, that set alarm bells off. The origin of the concern was NOT Steele dossier.
"As the WSJ reported on Friday, Steele’s research formed only part of the application. Four separate federal judges approved these renewals. All were appointed by Republican presidents."
"Meanwhile, Page’s career as a Trump adviser was entering its terminal phase. His speech in Moscow had provoked comment, much of it adverse. The campaign’s ties with Russia were becoming a source of controversy." 😁
"...quoting a campaign mgr, Page wrote policy memos and attended three dinners in Washington for Trump’s foreign advisory team. He sat in on meetings w/Trump. Apparently, his attempts to meet Trump personally failed." 🤔
"In the classified briefing to congressional leaders in late 8/16 Page’s name figured prominently....much of it “Russians talking to Russians,” according to one former Nat Sec Council member."
"When Senate minority leader Harry Reid wrote to Comey in early autumn, he cited “disturbing” contacts between a Trump adviser and “high-ranking sanctioned individuals.” That was Page. And Sechin."
"These embarrassing details surfaced in a report by Yahoo! News. Within hrs, the Trump campaign had disavowed Page—casting him out as a nobody who'd exaggerated his links to Trump. All of which made his subsequent rehabilitation by Nunes more bizarre." Gone, but not neutralized.
""age exited the campaign in late 9/16. It was an inglorious end, and his troubles were just beginning. Steele’s Rosneft source was right. In early 12/16—less than a mo after Trump won the WH—Rosneft announced it was selling 19.5 percent of its stock." 🔥
"This was one of the biggest privatizations since the 1990s and, on the face of it, a vote of confidence in the RU economy.
Steele’s mole had known about the plan months before Rosneft’s mgmt board was informed....“Sechin did it all on his own."
Steele’s mole had known about the plan months before Rosneft’s mgmt board was informed....“Sechin did it all on his own."
"n the wks to come, US and other Western intel agencies would examine this deal closely. Where did the money go? RU journalists were sceptical that it had ended up with Trump; it was more probable, they reasoned, that it would have travelled to Putin and Sechin."
"A day after the Rosneft deal was unveiled, Page flew...to Moscow. During his previous July visit he’d been feted. Since then, however, Page had become a liability to the Trump campaign—and therefore to RU, too...Putin’s...spokesman said gov't leaders had no plans to meet w/him."
Carter, did you commit treason because you're an idiot w/a fragile ego, and you ended up being used and discarded? Say it ain't so! 🤣
"...Page complained that Obama had persecuted Podobnyy, Sporyshev, and him...Page’s loyalty to the SVR was breathtaking. Podobnyy wasn’t an “imagined bogeyman” but a career operative working against the interests of the US. And, [he'd] bad-mouthed Page...calling him..."an idiot”.
Whatever Page’s motives were for helping RU intel—greed, naivety, stupidity—his actions surely justified the FBI’s interest in him. There was a simple way of avoiding U.S. surveillance and a FISA...warrant....Don’t hang out w/RU spies. 👏🏽👏🏽🎬 [END]
