Former Trump Aide Carter Page Accused US Justice Department of ‘Orwellian Overreach’ - Report

Former Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign aide Carter Page has filed a motion objecting to the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) delay in responding to his lawsuit, requesting earlier access to a report on FBI surveillance efforts, while accusing it of “Orwellian overreach”, a document obtained by Fox News has revealed.

The report is a result of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s efforts to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrants to surveil Page in relation to Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and is expected to be released on 9 December.

“On Monday, this Court confirmed that Article II authorities do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control”, Page said in a court filing, where the US Department of Justice was designated as the defendant.

“But characteristic of the Defendant’s Orwellian overreach, DOJ has instead continued to exercise an even greater level of absolute control entailing life-threatening damages against the Plaintiff, stemming from the United States Government’s incessant violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 and other alleged criminal activity”, Page added.

The former campaign aide has objected to not being given an opportunity to preview relevant parts of the report prior to its release, despite being implicated there, potentially due to the fact that he was not the main focus of Horowitz’s probe, which instead centred on the FBI and DOJ’s alleged abuse of Page’s surveillance.  

The DOJ responded to the suit by requesting an extension to react to Page’s complaint. Trump’s former aide also accused the Department of Justice of leaking details of the upcoming report to the media, citing violations of his rights and demanding a resolution that would minimise the damage to his name. Page requested in a filing that the DOJ officials responsible for violating the Privacy Act be referred for prosecution and that “all records or information maintained by the DOJ that is inaccurate or derogatory” of Page must be expunged.

Horowitz has conducted around 100 witness interviews over the course of his probe and is expected to release a comprehensive report on the FBI’s surveillance of Trump associates on 9 December, after which he will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The report is expected to cause political outcry, as it was already revealed last week that Horowitz had found evidence that significant redactions were made to a key investigative document related to FISA warrants issued to covertly gather intelligence on Trump’s associate Page during the 2016 presidential campaign. Donald Trump has previously stated that the release of Horowitz’s report will be “the biggest scandal in the history” of the US.