Lawmakers say that when the House Intelligence Committee asked Carter Page, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, why he hadn’t provided them with the documents for their investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.
“I’m helping to the greatest extent I can,” Page said after the interview on Capitol. A transcript of Page’s testimony is to be released by the committee in three days at his request.
The interview which was held in a secure hearing room lasted for almost seven hours, but Page refused to provide any details regarding the lawmakers’ questions. Lawmakers subpoenaed Page’s documents which, they say, he did not give even though it is unclear which materials they were referring to. It was also not evident what steps they intend to take in order to obtain the documents. A subpoena to Page was issued by the Senate intelligence committee as well.
Committee members said that no shocking information was provided by Page, despite his seven hour-long testimony.
“No atomic bombs,” said Representative Tom Rooney.
After the interview Page made only brief comments to reporters and expressed his anger at being included in the Steele dossier which describes him as an ambassador for the campaign to Kremlin. However, he said that “it was great to have this discussion and have the opportunity to testify.”
Page has appeared on television multiple times, to talk about his role in the campaign, despite being advised by his attorneys not to do so. Until now his role was considered to be insignificant, but after former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos’ admitted on Monday that he had lied about his contacts with Russian officials, interest in Page rose. Namely, both Page and Papadopoulos were members of the same team of foreign policy advisers, but he claimed he “had nothing to do with that.”
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