A man Donald Trump named as a foreign policy adviser earlier this year is being probed by federal officials for potentially opening up a dialogue with senior members of the Russian government, Yahoo News reported Friday afternoon.
The possible talks between Carter Page and the Kremlin include economic sanctions against Russia—something that Page, who has business interests in the nation, has criticized in the past.
Yahoo News has more:
The activities of Trump adviser Carter Page, who has extensive business interests in Russia, have been discussed with senior members of Congress during recent briefings about suspected efforts by Moscow to influence the presidential election, the sources said. After one of those briefings, Senate minority leader Harry Reid wrote FBI Director James Comey, citing reports of meetings between a Trump adviser (a reference to Page) and “high ranking sanctioned individuals” in Moscow over the summer as evidence of “significant and disturbing ties” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin that needed to be investigated by the bureau. Some of those briefed were “taken aback” when they learned about Page’s contacts in Moscow, viewing them as a possible back channel to the Russians that could undercut U.S. foreign policy, said a congressional source familiar with the briefings but who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. The source added that U.S. officials in the briefings indicated that intelligence reports about the adviser’s talks with senior Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin were being “actively monitored and investigated.” A senior U.S. law enforcement official did not dispute that characterization when asked for comment by Yahoo News. “It’s on our radar screen,” said the official about Page’s contacts with Russian officials. “It’s being looked at.”
Read more of Yahoo News’s report here.
Page’s role in the campaign has been unclear after Trump named him a foreign policy hand in March. Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman, told the Washington Post last month—by which point Page’s sympathetic views to Russian interests had been widely reported—an “informal foreign policy adviser“.
