RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week-June 3 to June 9-
Featured Investigation
"Last week in RealClearInvestigations, Lee Smith
raised doubts about one basis for the Trump-Russia collusion investigation:
the role of Joseph Mifsud. Smith's reporting indicates that it's hard to pin
the label Russian spy on this Maltese academic with longstanding Western
intelligence connections, who supposedly told George Papadopoulos that the
Russians had thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails, sparking the FBI probe.
 This week in RCI, Paul Sperry raises similar doubts about
another justification for investigating the Trump campaign: the claim that
the feds had longstanding concerns that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page
was working for Russia - suspicions that eventually led to FISA warrant
surveillance of the Annapolis graduate.
This version of events centers on an interview the Department of
Justice arranged with Page in March 2016, the same month that Trump named him
as a campaign adviser. The suggestion is that the government was so concerned
that a compromised individual might be working with Trump that it immediately
checked in on Page.
Sperry's article shows that:
- The interview had nothing to do with the campaign; it concerned a 2013 case
against a Russian operative.
- Far from being a target of suspicion, Page was a cooperating witness in a
case that ended with Evgeny Buryakov pleading guilty to
espionage-related charges on March 11, 2016.
- The government characterized Page to the court as someone who helped the FBI
catch Russian spies.
- The interview took place before Trump publicly named Page as an adviser on
March 21, 2016.
Sperry's reporting suggests that Rep. Adam Schiff and other
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee may have been misleading when
they argued in their 10-page memo defending the Obama Justice Department's
monitoring of Page that, "The FBI interviewed Page multiple times about
his Russian intelligence contacts, including in March 2016."
By showing that Page appeared to be in the government's good
graces before Trump named him as an adviser, Sperry's reporting also raises
questions about the basis for subsequent FISA warrants and surveillance of
Page - specifically the role of election-year politics and the Steele dossier."
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