Carter Page

Carter William Page (born June 3, 1971) is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy Capital, a one-man investment fund and consulting firm specializing in the Russian and Central Asian oil and gas business.

Page was a focus of multiple government investigations examining the 2016 Russian election interference and possible links to the Trump campaign. The FBI obtained four FISA warrants to surveil Page beginning in October 2016; in 2019, the Justice Department determined the final two warrants were invalid. In April 2019, the Mueller report concluded that the investigation "did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government" in its interference efforts.

DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz identified 17 significant errors and omissions in the FISA applications in December 2019. The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee found in August 2020 that despite FISA problems, Page's "previous ties to Russian intelligence officers, coupled with his Russian travel, justified the FBI's initial concerns." Special Counsel John Durham prosecuted FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in August 2020 to altering a CIA email used in the warrant process. Durham's May 2023 report concluded that the FBI "did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations" in the Steele dossier used to support the warrants, characterizing the Page surveillance as a "dry hole."

Page was never charged with any crime. He has filed four lawsuits related to the investigations; all were dismissed by courts.