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The Surveillance of Carter Page

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It started off simply enough:

From the December 17, 2017 NYT article:

Page contends that the real story of the 2016 election was not collusion between Trump and Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton but rather collusion between the Democratic National Committee — which helped pay for the Steele dossier — and the F.B.I. to defeat Trump. And their efforts, Page insists, focused on him. “I was the most central element, the central linchpin,” he told me.

Referring to his wiretapping by the F.B.I., he added: “There are two people who got hacked last year: Podesta” — John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman, whose emails were published by WikiLeaks — “and me.”

Carter Page became the subject of Title I FISA surveillance through the FBI’s use of the Steel Dossier on October 21, 2016.

Title I surveillance – which is retroactive – is the most thorough and intrusive type of surveillance an American citizen can find themselves under. Everything – literally everything – can be looked at.

The Steele Dossier was absolutely vital to obtaining the FISA Warrant:

But there were some problems. For one thing, the Dossier had never been corroborated:

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the same:

Nobody even knows who Steele’s sources are – or if they exist:

All of which violates Woods Procedures. The independent verification of information contained in a FISA application by both the FBI and DOJ.

This is why the FBI Director and Deputy Attorney General sign off on FISA applications before they go to the FISA Court.

Which makes one wonder about Carter Page’s allegations in that NYT article:

But it was this from the Conservative Treehouse that really generated some attention:

As Byron York noted:

Page was caught up (and wiretapped) in a 2013 case against Russian agents in New York who were trying to recruit Americans, including Page. Page was never charged, he was not a Russian agent, and the case ended with no action against him.

There was actually a bit more to the story. Carter Page was FBI UCE-1 (Under-Cover Employee #1).

On March 11, 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office – Southern District of New York, put out a press release, Evgeny Buryakov Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court In Connection With Conspiracy To Work For Russian Intelligence.

The announcement was jointly made by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

I’ve discussed John Carlin before:

In mid-2016, Rogers ordered the NSA compliance officer to run a full audit on Section 702 NSA compliance.

Admiral Rogers was briefed by the compliance officer on October 20th, 2016.

Admiral Mike Rogers ordered all “About Query” activity to stop and reported the activity to the DOJ.

On October 26th, 2016, NSA Director Rogers personally informed the FISA Court of the Section 702 violations.

Rogers stopped the process on October 26th 2016.

The DOJ National Security Division attempted to preempt Rogers by filing a notification with the FISA Court on September 26 2016 (pdf).

John P Carlin was the head of the DOJ National Security Division. Carlin was attempting to set up Rogers as the scapegoat – knowing the NSA compliance officer was finishing a review of their conduct.

Carlin then announced his resignation on September 27 2016.

NSD Head Carlin’s efforts at scapegoating Rogers failed.

From the U.S. Attorney’s press release:

Beginning in 2012, BURYAKOV worked in the United States as an agent of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, known as the “SVR.” BURYAKOV operated under “non-official cover,” meaning he entered and remained in the United States as a private citizen, posing as an employee in the Manhattan office of a Russian bank, Vnesheconombank, also known as “VEB.”

The FBI obtained the recordings after Sporyshev attempted to recruit an FBI undercover employee (“UCE-1”), who was posing as an analyst from a New York-based energy company. In response to requests from Sporyshev, UCE-1 provided Sporyshev with binders containing purported industry analysis written by UCE-1 and supporting documentation relating to UCE-1’s reports, as well as covertly placed recording devices.

The trial ended in May 2016.

Carter Page was “FBI undercover employee (‘UCE-1”).

Again, Carter Page has acknowledged this. As far as I know, it has not been disputed.

The implication is that Carter Page remained in the FBI’s employ through the culmination of the trial in May 2016.

Although logical, I’ve not found proof of this.

In Page’s House Intelligence Committee testimony I did find the following statement on page 45:

GOWDY: I’m just wondering if you can recall whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have interviewed you in 2016?

PAGE: During that case related to Mr. Podobnyy, where – which was also illegally leaked, that I was indeed Male No. 1, someone leaked that to Politico and ABC News in April [2016] – I had a meeting in the U.S. District Court, Southern District in New York – or the U.S. Attorney’s Office there on the criminal side – and I spoke with them about that then.

Page is referring to a 2016 meeting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding the Evgeny Buryakov case.

We also have this:

Having interacted with members of the U.S. Intelligence Committee including the FBI and CIA for many decades, I appreciate the limitations on your staff’s time and resources. Although I have not been contacted by any member of your team in recent months…

The letter is dated September 25, 2016.

Then we had this March 9, 2016 story from Reuters:

According to prosecutors, in April 2012, Sporyshev met an undercover FBI employee posing as an analyst at a New York energy firm at an oil and gas industry conference.

Over the next two years, they met to discuss the industry and other economic and political issues, prosecutors said, with Sporyshev providing gifts and cash for information.

In 2013, the FBI employee began providing Sporyshev with the binders containing purported industry analysis he wrote, supporting documents, and “covertly placed recording devices,” prosecutors wrote.

The recordings that resulted captured statements of Sporyshev, Podobnyy, and other Russian intelligence personnel from January to May 2013, prosecutors said.

It almost sounds as if Carter Page’s work was rather significant.

Contrast this with an April 6, 2017 NYT article:

The businessman, Carter Page, met with one of three Russians who were eventually charged with being undeclared officers with Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the S.V.R. The F.B.I. interviewed Mr. Page in 2013 as part of an investigation into the spy ring, but decided that he had not known the man was a spy, and the bureau never accused Mr. Page of wrongdoing.

According to the Times, Page was almost a bystander – caught briefly in some Russian Intrigue.

It’s possible something else entirely was going on:

An opportunity may have been seized:

The Insurance Policy?

Carter Page has been strident in his defense:

What if he’s right:

Who was the FBI really spying on:

There were some other odd coincidences as well:

I don’t know all that much about Carter Page. I’m not sure anyone really does.

Yet.

But it sure seems strange that a guy who – according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office – helped materially in a major case and was employed by the FBI, suddenly becomes the primary target of a highly suspect FISA Title I Warrant.

A Warrant that was used to establish surveillance on everyone around Carter Page – which just coincidentally included the entire Trump Campaign.

 

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