Many of Donald Trump’s supporters may only believe in the Second Amendment, but one of Trump’s first foreign advisers during his campaign has discovered the Fifth.
Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday he would not cooperate with any request to appear before the panel in its investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election, Politico reported.
While many members of the Trump campaign have made public comments about cooperation and openness, a willingness to answer questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee has been singularly lacking. Paul Manafort appeared in a carefully negotiated closed door session in which he was questioned by Senate staff. Jared Kushner used his closed hearing to blame an assistant for his constant stream of unreported meetings with Russians. Donald Trump Jr. took part in a five-hour closed session, following which one senator felt compelled to issue a memo on lying to the Senate.
Page had previously stated that he would cooperate with House investigations, which have proven to be a start-stop process dominated by the antics of House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes. Page also complained that committees had blocked his testimony, saying that he was eager to clear himself—which brought a tweet from Trump.
Except it seems that the only thing blowing away, is the last scrap of Carter Page’s believability … but there was never much of that to begin with.
Trump’s May 31 tweets on Page were a bit overshadowed by another post that day which introduced the word “covfefe” to the language. But in the midst of his attacks on Comey, Trump somehow thought that Carter Page—perhaps the weakest reed among his crew of advisers—was somehow a potential ally.
Except it seems that Page is now concerned that he might have left a little eye of newt, or wing of bat hanging around some place, because he’s not talking to this “Witch Hunt.”
The panel has also signaled an interest in interviewing former campaign associates such as Page, to determine how, if at all, the Russians sought to infiltrate Trump's circle in the throes of the presidential race.
Perhaps the Senate would like to discuss Page with his Russian handlers.
Podobnyy, officially an attaché to the Russian mission of the U.N., told Page that he would work with Sporyshev, as Russia’s trade representative in New York, to win contracts for Page. “He went to Moscow and forgot to check his inbox, but he wants to meet when he gets back,” Podobnyy told Sporyshev on April 8, 2013. “I think he is an idiot and forgot who I am.” Podobnyy noted that Page wrote him emails in Russian “to practice,” and said “he flies to Moscow more than I do.”