This interview will go down in history as one of the weirdest television moments ever. I kept thinking of Richard Nixon getting interviewed by David Frost back in the day. Nixon sitting there thinking he's in control of the situation when in reality he's just digging and digging and digging.
There is no doubt that Carter Page travels in some very high circles. He's been to Russia, been "brought on" to the Trump campaign to write memos or do something-something on foreign policy behind the scenes. He's in a lot of Republican "golden Rolodexes."
His real job is listed as "Oil Industry Analyst." Carter Page was vice president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch's Moscow Office, which he joined in 2004.
He has invested personally in Gazprom, a state-run oil company in Russia which operatives in conjunction with Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with Bloomberg in March 2016, Page said that when he was named one of Donald Trump’s foreign policy advisers, many of his Russian contacts reached out to him because they were excited about the possibility of eliminating U.S. sanctions on Russia.
“So many people who I know and have worked with have been so adversely affected by the sanctions policy,” Page told Bloomberg. “There’s a lot of excitement in terms of the possibilities for creating a better situation.”
Page later started his own firm, Global Energy Capital LLC.
Wall Street + Russia + Oil + Trump. So yeah. Now he's a central figure in Russiagate. He joined the Trump foreign policy team, then the Trump team said he wasn't part of their staff. He says he didn't talk to Russians, now he says he did. It's the same mess as we're seeing from everyone else in Trump World. "Nothing to see here" but don't investigate because "Nothing to see here."
So why on God's Green Earth did he go on the Chris Hayes show? And once he did, why did he then make statements like this?
"I'm not going to deny that I talked with [the Russian Ambassador.]
"I will say that I never met him anywhere outside of Cleveland, let's just say that much."
Cleveland? During the Republican National Convention? Oil investors meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the RNC on behalf of the Trump campaign?
Nothing to see here? Oh by the way, Page is a Sessions guy.
So this is likely a deflection move. Under great pressure, because yeah, several Senators and 26 Representatives called for a Sessions resignation yesterday. Ahem.
Of course, the so-called President has weeks ago issued Twitter exclamation points so he's on the record! Sad!
