Ex-Trump campaign adviser: I told ‘a few people’ about Moscow trip

President Trump’s former campaign adviser Carter Page said Friday that he told Attorney General Jeff Sessions and “a few” other people about his trip to Moscow during the 2016 campaign.

“I mentioned it to a few people,” Page told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “The Lead.”

“It’ll come out, things keep leaking,” Page continued. He declined to mention specific individuals beyond Sessions in order to avoid having more of a “negative impact” on the campaign, he said.

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Page downplayed his meeting with Sessions when he mentioned that he was traveling to Moscow, calling it “a nothing event.”

“That mention, which was the big headline yesterday, was a brief comment as we were walking toward the elevator after having dinner together, and so it was such a nothing event,” he said. 

CNN first reported on Thursday that Page testified before the House Intelligence Committee that he had informed Sessions of a July 2016 trip to Russia before leaving, saying the trip was unconnected to the Trump campaign.

The testimony could add more fuel to speculation surrounding Sessions and how much he knew about correspondence between Trump campaign officials and the Russian officials.

Page has been seen as a key player in the widening federal and congressional investigations into alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow’s election meddling due to Page’s Russian ties.

The Washington Post reported in April that the FBI got a warrant in 2016 to monitor Page’s communications as part of the probe into Russia’s election interference.

Page’s comments Friday come days after special counsel Robert Mueller announced charges against former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Richard Gates.

Mueller also revealed that George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser brought on by the campaign around the same time as Page, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russia-connected foreign nationals.

Page told MSNBC this week that Russia “may have come up” in his emails with Papadopoulos during the campaign, though he said “nothing major” was discussed. 

Page, who does not have an attorney, did not deny that he had met with Mueller’s team as a part of the probe.

“You know, what’s interesting, again, given those leaks, the Mueller team has been very professional in terms of not leaking,” Page told Tapper when asked whether he had met with the special counsel’s team. 

“I have no comment … because, you know, they don’t talk about ongoing investigations,” he said. 

Some Senate Democrats have started demanding that Sessions testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee again following the documents released by Mueller’s team this week.