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'Never': Carter Page Denies Ever Speaking With Trump - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US President Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Carter Page, the former aide featured in competing Republican and Democratic memos on FBI eavesdropping in the 2016 US presidential campaign, denied ever speaking with Trump in an interview on Tuesday.
Sputnik

"I never spoke with him [Trump] any time in my life," Page told ABC News when asked whether he had communicated with the president since the FBI began eavesdropping on the former aide during the 2016 election campaign.

When asked whether his remarks applied to email, text messages or other forms of communication, Page replied, "Never."

A memorandum released last week by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said FBI and Justice Department officials won permission from a secret FISA court to eavesdrop on Page using an unverified dossier that was partly funded by rival candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party.

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A competing memo from Intelligence Committee Democrats, which has yet to be publicly released, reportedly criticizes the Republican memo as politically motivated, saying it omits key facts about the FBI's surveillance of Page.

US media reports have accused Page of having links to the Russian intelligence services, saying that agents tried to recruit him in 2013, when Page served as an energy consultant.

READ MORE: Trump's Lawyers Advise President Refrain From Russia Probe Interview — Reports

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential election and is investigating Trump's team members' possible links to the Kremlin. Russia refutes all the accusations, saying that the US establishment is trying to use the issue to pursue its political goals.

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