Justice Department reveals settlement with Trump 2016 campaign aide over Russia probe surveillance

WASHINGTON (AP) — An aide to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign who was the target of secret surveillance during the FBI’s Russia investigation has reached a settlement with the federal government, according to a court filing Wednesday.

Carter Page asserted in a 2020 lawsuit that he was the victim of “unlawful spying” by an FBI agency that was investigating whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had criminally conspired with Russia to affect the outcome of the election. The lawsuit 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.

Page vigorously denied any claim of improper ties to Russia and was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Page appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts tossed out his suit, with appellate judges saying last year that he had waited too long to file his complaint. But as the appeal was pending, the Trump administration informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it had reached a settlement with Page on his claims against the federal government. The settlement does not cover claims Page had made against former FBI officials he had also sued.

It did not reveal a dollar figure, but a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss non-public information said the amount of the deal was $1.25 million.

Page’s lawsuit followed a harshly critical Justice Department inspector general report that found significant problems with the four surveillance applications. Former FBI and Justice Department leaders who were involved in signing off on the surveillance have since testified they wouldn’t have done so had they known of the extent of the issues, and the FBI later 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, who was never charged with any wrongdoing, 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.

The Justice Department in March settled a separate lawsuit with another figure from the Trump-Russia probe, reaching 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.