Durham Report exposes FBI bias against Carter Page in FISA warrants.

The FBI’s Vengeance Against Carter Page

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was subjected to years of slanderous press coverage, painting him as a covert Russian agent. Why? Because he refused to work for the FBI as a federal informant. The FBI’s surveillance of Page was revealed in a bombshell report by Special Counsel John Durham, which outlines the agency’s animosity towards Page for not cooperating.

The FBI’s Investigation of Page

Page, a former energy consultant, worked for the Trump campaign in 2016. His past experience in the energy industry included contact with Russian nationals between 2009 and 2013, leading the FBI to interview him in 2015. The interview was about three Russian intelligence officers indicted by the Southern District of New York.

“Page had been approached by the intelligence officers in an apparently failed recruitment effort,” the Durham report reads. Page’s refusal to work as a covert agent for the FBI seemed to provoke animosity within the agency that would later frame the prominent consultant as a covert agent of the Russian government. One intelligence officer called Page an “idiot,” according to Durham, and complained about Page’s resistance to recruitment.

In April 2016, shortly after Page was named as an advisor to the Trump campaign, the New York Field Office opened a counterintelligence investigation of him. The investigation was moved from the New York field office to the FBI headquarters under the direction of then-FBI Director James Comey. According to the Durham report, Comey repeatedly pressed Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance warrant on Page.

The Deep-State Operation

The agency’s probe, known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” laid the groundwork for a two-year special counsel investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to probe the Trump campaign of Russian collusion. The deep-state operation ultimately exonerated the president and found not one person, including Trump himself, colluded with Kremlin officials to capture the White House.

The Fallout

In January 2020, a federal judge found at least two of the four surveillance warrants granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) were illegal. Just a month after a blistering report from DOJ Inspector General David Horowitz outlined the litany of surveillance abuses by the FBI in Crossfire Hurricane, the judge ruled agency misconduct “calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.”

Former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann and Igor Danchenko, a Russian national who was the primary source for the debunked dossier compiled by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele, were both acquitted by juries. However, Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI attorney, pled guilty in August 2020 to falsifying a warrant to spy on Page. Clinesmith was given a slap on the wrist with one year of probation and 400 hours of community service.

The Fallout for Page

“Clinesmith, his organization, and their associates put my very life at risk, leading to abusive calls and death threats because of my personal opinions and support for President Trump,” Page told The Federalist at the time.

The FBI’s vengeance against Carter Page is a cautionary tale of the deep-state’s power and corruption. It’s a reminder that we must always be vigilant against those who seek to abuse their power and undermine our democracy.

• Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness.
• He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News.
• Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism.
• Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected].
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