DOJ settles with Trump 2016 campaign aide Carter Page over Russia probe
The Justice Department has settled a lawsuit from a 2016 campaign aide to President Trump who was targeted by surveillance as the FBI investigated Russian interference in the election, a court filing shows.
Carter Page sued in 2020, alleging that a series of errors made by FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials when seeking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s permission in 2016 and 2017 to surveil him resulted in “unlawful spying.”
The agencies at the time, probing whether Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia to influence the election, suspected Page was an agent of Russia. He has denied all wrongdoing and was never charged.
The Trump administration’s notice that a settlement had been reached came in court filings at the Supreme Court , where Page had appealed lower court decisions to throw out his lawsuit because he waited too long to file it. The settlement, reached Tuesday, only covers Page’s claims against the federal government, not those he made against former FBI officials.
Other defendants named in the suit were former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, among other officials involved in the Russia investigation.
“The United States expresses no opinion on whether the Court should review petitioner’s claim that the court of appeals erred in affirming the dismissal of his FISA claims against the individual defendants,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the filing .
The Associated Press reported that the settlement amount was $1.25 million, citing a source familiar with the matter. The Hill sought comment from Page’s attorney.
Page’s lawsuit came after a 2019 DOJ inspector general report found that the FBI was justified in investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia but that “serious performance failures” plagued the bureau’s chain of command. The FBI has since initiated more than 40 corrective measures to improve the accuracy of future applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not uncover evidence concluding that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government ahead of the 2016 contest. However, it did find Russian interference on Trump’s behalf.
The Associated Press contributed.
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