2016 ELECTION/CARTER PAGE/FBI/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: “Former Donald Trump campaign adviser Carter Page said Monday [1-29-18] that he wanted more information from the Justice Department before weighing in on a report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend a secret surveillance warrant against him early last year.
In text messages, Page said he’s waiting for the results of a Freedom of Information Act request he made to DOJ over any FBI surveillance involving him in 2016 and after… Page declined to discuss a New York Times report that a classified memo prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee will reveal that Rosenstein, a Trump appointee, approved an FBI application for an extension of the surveillance warrant last spring.
The memo is at the center of a heated confrontation between House Republicans and the Justice Department, which could land on Trump’s desk as early as Monday afternoon. Sources who have seen the memo say it alleges abuse of a surveillance program, known as FISA, to scrutinize Page. Republicans believe FBI officials obtained a warrant to spy on Page by relying in part on a disputed dossier of allegations that Trump had illicit ties to Russia. The dossier, compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, was funded by an opposition research firm that had been hired by the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
The Times’ report that Rosenstein signed off on the FBI’s effort to extend the Page warrant — which a court also would have had to approve — has escalated concerns that he may be in House Republicans’ crosshairs, though it also indicates that a Trump appointee believed there was reason to look into Page last year.”
-Kyle Cheney, “Carter Page: ‘Still awaiting the facts’ on FBI surveillance of him,” Politico, Jan. 29, 2018 11:26am