Trump Campaign Adviser Changes Story About Russia Trip

Carter Page now says he met 'senior person' in Russian government
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2017 10:28 AM CDT
Trump Campaign Adviser Changes Story About Russia Trip
In this July 8, 2016 photo, Carter Page speaks in Moscow, Russia.   (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

It seems a former Trump campaign adviser lied numerous times to the media regarding a trip he took to Russia in July 2016. Carter Page has in the past denied meeting with Russian government officials during the trip, instead saying he saw "mostly scholars." As late as Friday afternoon, he said he only met with business people and academics he had "known for a decade." But a source tells the New York Times that wasn't the story Page gave during testimony Thursday in front of the House Intelligence Committee, when he admitted to meeting Russian officials during the trip. An email Page sent to at least one Trump campaign aide contained his thoughts on his interactions with Russian officials and was read aloud during his testimony, a source says.

On Friday night, Page changed his story to the Times, saying he "had a very brief hello to a couple of people," one of whom was a "senior person" in the Russian government. He later told CNN that senior person was Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, again characterizing it as a "hello." Page also tells CNN he told Jeff Sessions and "a few people" in the Trump campaign about his plans to travel to Moscow ahead of the trip. He says the identities of those others will "come out." In the meantime, he's now cast suspicion on Sessions' earlier testimony to Congress regarding ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Page says his trip to Russia was not related to the campaign. During the trip, he gave a speech critical of America's Russia policy at a university in Moscow. (More Carter Page stories.)

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