Friday, May 26, 2017

Leaky, Leaky: Trump Circle of Jerks: Carter Page

When the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” pressed Trump on air in mid-March to name people with whom he spoke about foreign affairs, the candidate’s response only seemed to underscore his lack of serious advice.

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain,” he said.

[...]

By late March 2016, when Trump appeared before The Post’s editorial board, he was prepared to brag about his new foreign policy team.

“I can give you some of the names,” Trump said after Post Publisher Frederick J. Ryan Jr. asked about his advisers.

Second on the list of five read aloud by Trump: “Carter Page, PhD.”

[...]

[W]hen Carter Page, an international businessman with an office near Trump Tower, volunteered his services, former officials recall, Trump aides were quick to make him feel welcome.

He had come with a referral from the son-in-law of Richard Nixon, New York state Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox, who had conveyed Page’s interest to the campaign, Cox said.

[...]

A top Trump adviser, Sam Clovis, then employed what campaign aides now acknowledge was their go-to vetting process — a quick Google search — to check out [Page]. He seemed to have the right qualifications, according to former campaign officials — head of an energy investment firm, business degree from New York University, doctorate from the University of London.

[...]

But what the Google search had not shown was that Page had been on the FBI’s radar since at least 2013, when Russian officials allegedly tried to use him to get information about the energy business.

[...]

A thorough vetting of Page might have revealed several red flags. Page had spent three years working in Moscow, for instance, and he held stock in the Russian company Gazprom, meaning that he could have a personal financial stake in the future of U.S.-imposed sanctions against Russia.

[...]

In June, Page stunned a group of foreign policy luminaries during a private meeting at Blair House with the visiting prime minister of India by going off-topic to declare that Putin was a stronger and more reliable leader than President Barack Obama, according to people who were in the room. Page also promised that U.S.-Russian relations would improve if Trump were elected. Page has denied this account, blaming it on his political enemies.

[...]

Page had previously drawn the attention of the FBI after he had conversations in 2013 with a man posing as an executive with the New York branch of the Russian development bank Vneshecon­ombank. The man was later convicted of being a Russian spy, and FBI recordings included discussions among Russian operatives about their attempts to recruit Page.

[...]

Over the summer, the FBI convinced a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of Russia.

[...]

In his defense, Page in recent weeks has sent a series of meandering letters to investigators. He has quoted Maroon 5 lyrics, cited the writings of George Orwell and said he is being persecuted because of his Catholic faith.

  WaPo
Oy, vey.

Here's something I missed at the time:
In early March 2016, more than 70 conservative national security experts signed an open letter opposing Trump’s candidacy, calling him “fundamentally dishonest.”
They could have added fundamentally ignorant.  Note that Trump had to read the list of his policy advisers in that Post interview.  He probably had no input in choosing them or care who the hell they were.  When push comes to shove in the Russia collusion aspect of the investigation, he'll be able to pull the Alzheimer-Reagan defense: I didn't know, or I forgot.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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