Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page called it “totally unreasonable” that the Russians were trying to recruit him in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
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“This is so ridiculous, it’s just beyond words,” Page told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked if he was an agent of a foreign power. “It’s literally a complete joke.”
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Page’s appearance on “State of the Union” came a day after the Justice Department released a heavily redacted version of the Foreign Intelligence Security Act application the FBI used to spy on him.

“The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government,” the application said.
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Page, a foreign policy adviser for the campaign, acknowledged that he may have participated in some meetings with Russians, but not at the level he’s accused of.

“Jake , it’s really spin, I sat in on some meetings, but to call me an adviser is way over the top,” Page said.

Tapper brought up a letter Page wrote where he described himself as an informal adviser to the Kremlin in advance of the 2013 G – 20 meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

“This is really nothing,” Page said.

The CNN host also asked Page if he had established relations with government officials, another claim found in the FISA warrant.

“Well let’s see what they are referring to specifically,” Page answered.

Page denied conversing with two of the Russians listed in the documents, Igor Sechin and Igor

Diveykin , and said Diveykin never told him that the Russians had dirt on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“Totally false. That’s directly from the dodgy dossier,” Page said, referring to the document assembled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, which contains a number of unverified claims about then-candidate Trump’s relationship with the Russians.

On Sunday, President Trump congratulated the group Judicial Watch and its president Tom Fitton in a tweet for getting the FBI to release the FISA document trove before knocking the FBI and the Department of Justice.

Judicial Watch and a number of news organizations had sued the U.S. government in order to get the documents released.

“As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of ‘Justice’ and FBI misled the courts,” Trump wrote. “Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam!”