Judge Dismisses Carter Page Lawsuit Against FBI Despite ‘Deeply Troubling’ Surveillance

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Carter Page, a former associate of President Donald Trump, over the FBI’s controversial surveillance of him as part of its investigation into the Trump campaign.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich issued the ruling on Thursday stating that Page, who was an informal presidential campaign adviser to Trump in 2016, cannot sue the FBI or other former officials involved in the $75 million lawsuit (pdf).

Page filed the suit in 2020 against the FBI, the Justice Department, and multiple former FBI officials for damages stemming from what he called the “unlawful spying” against him over the now disproven allegations that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia.

In the lawsuit, Page accused the federal agencies and ex-officials of violating his constitutional rights and other legal rights by unlawfully surveilling him, noting that the “defendants’ unjustified and illegal actions (including violations of federal criminal law)” had “violated federal statutes enacted to prevent unlawful spying on United States persons, as well as the Constitution.”

Defendants listed in the lawsuit included former FBI director James Comey, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former top counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith.

Clinesmith pleaded guilty in 2020 to doctoring an email from the CIA to make it appear as if Page was not an agency asset, without disclosing that Page was an approved operational contact for the CIA who reported on his interactions with Russian intelligence officers.

The email was used to obtain spy warrants to surveil Page.

Friedrich noted that the “FBI’s conduct in preparing the FISA warrant applications to electronically surveil Page was deeply troubling” and that the government itself has “conceded that it lacked probable cause for two of the warrants.”

‘No Actionable Claim’

However, Friedrich, a Trump appointee, ruled that the lawsuit be thrown out because