Carter Page Goes on the Offensive, Sues Comey, DOJ, and FBI for $75 Million
Carter Page, the 2016 Trump campaign aide who was investigated as part of the debunked theory that Russia was supporting President Donald Trump’s campaign, is fighting back.
On Friday Page filed suit claiming he is owed $75 million collectively from the Justice Department, FBI and former FBI Director James Comey saying that he was wrongfully surveilled, according to the New York Post.
The suit also names former FBI Assistant Director Andrew McCabe, FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to falsifying an e-mail used by the FBI when it monitored Page, was also named.
Using the doctored email, the FBI was able to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to conduct surveillance on Page, who the FBI claimed was being recruited by Russia. No charges were ever filed against Page.
Page had been an investment banker in Moscow before he became a foreign policy adviser for the 2016 campaign.
The surveillance “violated federal statutes enacted to prevent unlawful spying on United States persons, as well as the Constitution,” the lawsuit said.
Good overview summary of the claims in our suit for Carter Page if you’re looking for a place to start understanding the case, courtesy of the estimable @ProfMJCleveland ?? https://t.co/tbG0F1rGdT
— Leslie McAdoo Gordon (@McAdooGordon) November 27, 2020
It is my privilege to represent Carter Page in his suit against the officials who violated his rights in an outrageous abuse of govt power. #Winterishere.
We’re a team of lawyers working for justice for Carter as you can from this link to the complaint: https://t.co/05nIt8Bx9Y
— Leslie McAdoo Gordon (@McAdooGordon) November 27, 2020
The lawsuit said the FBI failed to investigate the accuracy of a now-discredited dossier prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded through Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The lawsuit said that even as the FBI began spying on Page it knew the dossier had been designed to “dig up dirt on a connection between the Trump campaign and Russia to divert attention from the investigation of Clinton’s email practices while Secretary of State.”
The dossier “falsely alleged unlawful communications and activities involving Dr. Page and two Russians with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the lawsuit said.
“The more fundamental problem was that the FBI was so intent on obtaining a FISA warrant to enable it to spy on the Trump campaign that it did not fully and accurately disclose to the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] the evidence it had obtained as to whether Dr. Page was a Russian agent.
“To persuade the FISC that there was probable cause to believe that Dr. Page was a Russian agent, the Defendants provided false or misleading information to the FISC,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said that the individuals Page is suing committed “an abuse of process because they acted with an ulterior motive in using the FISA warrant process to accomplish an end unintended and not permitted by law, to wit, to spy on the Trump presidential campaign by unlawfully invading the privacy of Dr. Page without probable cause.”
The lawsuit added that Page never should have been targeted.
“In reality, there was no ‘probable cause’ to support surveillance of Dr. Page. If FBI procedures had been followed and an honest and thorough investigation conducted, and if the FBI had fully and accurately reported what it knew, the FISA warrants against Dr. Page would neither have been sought nor issued,” it said.
“The individual Defendants fabricated or intentionally disregarded critical evidence, and misled the FISC, in order to obtain the FISA warrants. This case is about holding accountable the entities and individuals who are responsible for the most egregious violation and abuse of the FISA statute since it was enacted over forty years ago.”
Page was ultimately exonerated during the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller.
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