Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser on the Trump campaign, on Thursday conceded he “may” have discussed lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia during a July 2016 trip to Moscow—just one day after claiming he “never” spoke about them on that visit.
“I don’t recall every single word I ever said,” Page said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Something may have come up in a conversation. I have no recollection, and there’s nothing specifically that I would have done that would have given people that impression.”
“Someone may have brought it up,” he went on. “And if it was, it was not something I was offering or that someone was asking for. We’ll see what comes out in this FISA transcript.”
The Washington Post reported this week that the FBI obtained a warrant to monitor Page’s communications last summer over suspicions he was acting as an agent of a foreign power.
The oddly interview-friendly consultant seemed to better recall what he discussed on his Moscow trip during a Wednesday conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Asked if he “ever conveyed to anyone in Russia” that Donald Trump may be “more wiling to get rid of the sanctions” if elected,” Page said he never had “any direct conversations such as that.”
“What do you mean direct conversations?” Tapper said. “I don’t know what that means, direct conversations.”
“I’m just saying no—that was never—that was never said, no,” Page replied.
He has tangled himself up in similar rhetorical webs before. During a March interview on MSNBC, he acknowledged, after persistent questioning from host Chris Hayes, that he met with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
“I’m not going to deny that I talked to him,” Page said. “I will say that I never met him anywhere outside of Cleveland. Let’s just say that much.”
Later in their interview, he said, “I may have met [Kislyak], possibly; it might have been in Cleveland.”
Watch his interview on “Good Morning America” below:
"Something may have come up…I have no recollection." Carter Page on if he ever discussed the easing of sanctions with the Russians. pic.twitter.com/O2buQV34W8
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 13, 2017
Me thinks it has now – finally – sunk in to Mr. Page that the US knows exactly what they talked about because they were listening.
“Coy”…It’s such a bad look for men.
If I were interviewing him, I would ask him “Do you know -----?” and rattle off 10 names. Then I would say these are the people associated with Russia’s hacking of the election who have died in recent months. “Any comment?”
drip, drip, drip. PRISON!
Shhh, ssh–he might decide silence is golden.