Carter Page

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Carter Page
Carter page.jpg
Basic facts
Organization:Global Energy Capital
Role:Founder and managing partner
Affiliation:Republican
Education:•United States Naval Academy
•New York University
•University of London
Website:Official website


Carter Page is the founder and a managing partner of Global Energy Capital LLC and has served as a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for National Policy. Page's research and private sector experience has focused on energy development in Russia and the Caspian Sea region. He was a foreign policy advisor for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but Page resigned in September 2016 amid allegations that he had private communications with top Russian officials.[1]

Career

Carter Page was a Trident Scholar and distinguished graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He earned an M.B.A. from New York University, received a Ph.D. from the University of London, and is a certified chartered financial analyst (CFA).[2][3]

Business

Page accepted a position with Merrill Lynch in 2000 and worked as an investment banker with the company for seven years, rising to the position of chief operating officer of the energy and power group. While at Merrill Lynch, Page spent time in the firm's London and New York offices and opened the firm's Moscow branch in 2004, where he worked for three years. In 2008, Page founded Global Energy Capital LLC, an energy investment firm based in New York City. He is a managing partner at Global Energy Capital and a fellow with the Center for National Policy in Washington, D.C.[3][4][5]

Foreign relations

Page worked in the Pentagon with a focus on arms control and later served as an international fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, specializing in energy research and economic development in the Caspian Sea region. Over the course of his career, Page has cultivated relationships with business and political leaders in Russia and nations of the former Soviet Union. According to Bloomberg Politics, "Page is a reliable defender of Russian intentions, and portrays U.S. policymakers as stuck in an outdated Cold War mindset."[5]

Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016

More on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign staff
Staff overview
• Trump staff overview
Management and strategy

•Steve Bannon, Executive chairman
•Kellyanne Conway, Campaign manager
•David Bossie, Deputy campaign manager
•Michael Glassner, Deputy campaign manager
•Jim Murphy, National political director
•John Mashburn, Policy director

Communications

•Hope Hicks, Communications director
•Jason Miller, Senior communications advisor
•Katrina Pierson, Campaign spokesperson

Advisors

•Roger Stone, Informal advisor
•Sam Clovis, Co-chair and policy advisor
•Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Senior advisor
•Michael Biundo, Senior advisor

See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016

On June 16, 2015, Trump announced his bid for the presidency at Trump Tower in New York City. Nine months later, on March 21, 2016, Trump announced a list of foreign policy advisors for his campaign. According to The New York Times, Carter Page will counsel Trump on energy policy and Russian relations.[6][7][8]

Media response to joining Trump's campaign as foreign policy advisor

The New York Times reported that policy experts were confused by some of Trump's choices for foreign policy advisors: "Mr. Trump has promised to hire the world’s brightest minds to make up for his lack of political experience, but his new foreign policy team left some of the country’s leading experts in the field scratching their heads as they tried to identify his choices." Speaking on the selections, Trump campaign co-chair and policy advisor Sam Clovis told the paper, "These are people who work for a living. If you’re looking for show ponies, you’re coming to the wrong stable."[8]

The Washington Free Beacon reported the following reactions to Page:

“ 'The very fact that a senior adviser to the leading Republican candidate for president seems to truly believe that a few individuals in the U.S. government are responsible for certain international events puts him firmly in the realm of conspiracy theorists,' said Hannah Thoburn, a Russia policy expert with the Hudson Institute.[9] ”

[10]

Comments on U.S.-Russia relations

In July 2016, Page was invited to speak on economics at the New Economic School in Moscow. He told The Washington Post that he was in Russia as a "private citizen," not as a representative of the Trump campaign. In his speech, Page criticized American foreign policy for an "often-hypocritical focus on democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change," especially in Russia, China, and Central Asia, according to the paper.[11] According to The Telegraph, Page also claimed the U.S. "unnecessarily perpetuated Cold War tendencies" in its relations with Russia.[12]

Resignation

On September 26, 2016, Page stepped down from Trump's campaign.[1] Page's resignation came amid speculation that he had engaged in discussions with top officials in the Russian government while in Moscow for a July speech. According to Yahoo News, U.S. intelligence officials were investigating allegations that Page had "talks about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if the Republican nominee becomes president."[13] Shortly after the accusations were made, Page left the campaign. He denied the allegations to The Washington Post, saying, "All the ones that are mentioned in the various articles, I didn’t meet with any of those guys. It’s completely false and inconceivable that someone would even accuse me of that." Page then said he would leave the campaign to avoid further distractions: "This is another distraction that’s been created here. There’s so little time between now and the election, this is in the best interests of the candidate."[14]

Surveillance by the U.S. Department of Justice

On July 21, 2018, the United States Department of Justice released a redacted version of the application it submitted to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) requesting permission to surveil Page as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The order authorizing the surveillance was approved in October 2016. The judges that approved the application were Rosemary Collyer, Michael Mosman, Anne Conway, and Raymond J. Dearie, all of whom were appointed to serve on the FISA court by Chief Justice John Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee.[15][16]

Opinion piece on U.S. attitude towards Russia

In October 2016, Page wrote an opinion piece for the Russian state-controlled news agency Sputnik. In the piece, he denounced what he saw as the United States' "complete disregard for Russia's interests," which he blamed for deteriorating relations between the two countries. He went on to write, "From Syria to Ukraine to world energy policy, Russia remains an essential piece in the puzzle for solving many of Washington's most pressing geostrategic challenges."[17]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 TalkingPointsMemo, "Trump Campaign Adviser Steps Down While Disputing Claims Of Russia Ties," September 26, 2016
  2. ↑ Global Policy Journal, "Author—Carter Page," accessed March 31, 2016
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Global Energy Capital, "Carter Page, CFA," accessed March 31, 2016
  4. ↑ The Washington Post, "One of Trump’s foreign policy advisers is a 2009 college grad who lists Model UN as a credential," March 22, 2016
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bloomberg Politics, "Trump’s new Russia adviser has deep ties to Kremlin’s Gazprom," March 30, 2016
  6. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Donald Trump Enters 2016 Presidential Race," June 16, 2015
  7. ↑ Politico, "Trump names foreign policy team members," March 21, 2016
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The New York Times, "Top Experts Confounded by Advisers to Donald Trump," March 22, 2016
  9. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  10. ↑ Washington Free Beacon, "Trump Adviser Compared US-Russia Policy to Slavery, Police Shootings," March 23, 2016
  11. ↑ The Washington Post, "Trump’s Russia adviser criticizes U.S. for ‘hypocritical focus on democratization,’" July 7, 2016
  12. ↑ The Telegraph, "Donald Trump aide slams America's policy on Russia during speech in Moscow," July 8, 2016
  13. ↑ Yahoo News, "U.S. intel officials probe ties between Trump adviser and Kremlin," September 23, 2016
  14. ↑ The Washington Post, "Trump’s Russia adviser speaks out, calls accusations ‘complete garbage,’" September 26, 2016
  15. ↑ NPR, "What You Need To Know About The Much-Discussed Carter Page FISA Document," July 23, 2018
  16. ↑ Law and Crime, "Judges Who Approved Carter Page FISA Warrants Were All Nominated by GOP Presidents," July 22, 2018
  17. ↑ Business Insider, "A Trump adviser says that the US has 'shown a complete disregard for Russia's interests,'" October 13, 2016
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