Trump administration reaches $1.25 million settlement with Carter Page

Washington — The Trump administration has reached a settlement agreement with ex-Trump campaign aide Carter Page over his claims arising out of surveillance warrants obtained by the FBI during its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The settlement is for $1.25 million, according to a source familiar with the settlement discussions.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a filing with the Supreme Court that the Trump administration and Page had “agreed to settle” his claims against the U.S. government. The brief was submitted in response to Page’s appeal of a lower court decision dismissing his lawsuit against the Justice Department, the FBI and eight individuals. Among those Page named in his lawsuit were former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and ex-FBI officials Kevin Clinesmith, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, along with a slew of unnamed FBI employees.

Sauer wrote that the settlement does not involve Page’s claims against the individual defendants.

The settlement between the Trump administration and Page only pertains to a claim he raised under the PATRIOT Act, and not those brought under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, against the ex-FBI officials. 

Page served as an informal foreign-policy adviser to President Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. As part of the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in that election and alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the bureau obtained four warrants under FISA to electronically surveil Page, including one in October 2016 and on three other occasions in 2017.

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog examined the bureau’s handling of the applications to obtain the warrants to monitor Page and found that the FBI made 17 “significant errors and omissions” in its initial application in 2016 and the three renewal requests. In particular, the inspector general criticized the FBI for its reliance on a set of opposition research memos prepared by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The so-called “Steele dossier” contained salacious allegations about then-candidate Trump that have not been proven. 

The FBI later acknowledged it should have ended its surveillance of Page earlier.

Page filed his lawsuit in November 2020, alleging that his surveillance was unlawful because the warrant applications were false and misleading. But in 2022, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich dismissed Page’s lawsuit, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed that decision in 2024 after Page appealed.

The D.C. Circuit ruled that the statute of limitations barred Page’s assertions against the federal entities and FBI personnel.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department and a lawyer for Page did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The D.C. Circuit ruled that the statute of limitations barred Page’s assertions against the federal entities and FBI personnel.