Supreme Court won’t revive ex-Trump aide’s suit over secret surveillance during Russia investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a lawsuit from an aide to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign who was the target of secret surveillance during the FBI’s Russia investigation.

The justices rebuffed an appeal from Carter Page, who settled with the U.S. for $1.25 million but wanted to continue a lawsuit against then-FBI director James Comey and other former officials alleging “unlawful spying” during a probe into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had conspired with Russia to affect the outcome of the election.

Page vigorously denied any claim of improper ties to Russia and was never charged with any wrongdoing. A government watchdog report was harshly critical of surveillance applications used in his case.

Lower courts tossed out his lawsuit, though, in part because he hadn’t sued the people who carried out the surveillance. The Supreme Court’s brief order did not detail their reasoning for declining the case, as is typical.

Page alleged a series of omissions and errors made by FBI and Justice Department officials in applications they submitted in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia.

Former FBI and Justice Department leaders who were involved in signing off on the surveillance have since said they wouldn’t have done so had they known of the extent of the issues, and the FBI has said it had initiated more than 40 corrective steps aimed at improving the accuracy and thoroughness of applications.

Despite the problems with the warrant applications, the scrutiny of Page accounted for only a narrow portion of the overall investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia had interfered on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 campaign and that the campaign welcomed the assistance. Mueller’s team said it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia.

Page settled with the Trump administration in April, as his Supreme Court appeal was pending. It came the month after a roughly $1.2 million settlement with Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned.