Who Is Carter Page And How Did He Come To Work For Trump's Campaign?

a reply to: Alien Abduct

Furthermore, I believe I might have stumbled on the answer to a question the professional journalists have been puzzling over which is how Carter Page ended up being a Trump advisor.

Give this article from Politico a read.

It mentions another important link in the Russian influence over Trump, former Reagan aide and ambassasdor to Germany, Richard Burt:

Now my interest was piqued. There were whispers all over Washington that, despite Hicks’s denial, Page was not only still part of the Trump campaign, but its conduit for Russian influence. Was he? One way to answer the question was to figure out how he even got on that list to begin with. One source suggested to me that Richard Burt, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, START treaty negotiator, and longtime lobbyist for Alfa Bank, was the nexus. It was Burt who helped draft Trump’s foreign policy speech in April, and had been advising the Trump campaign, via Senator Jeff Sessions, on foreign policy.

Alfa-Bank btw is Russia's largest privately owned commercial bank and Burt sits on its senior advisory council. I'm pretty sure somewhere in my notes there's some leads on a connection between Burt and Gazprom as well.

At any rate, I think I've come up with a very plausible (albeit circumstantial) connection between Carter Page and Trump's inner circle that explains how he got tapped for the advisor role.

To add a little bit more background (I really should have waited till after I slept to put this together, that 3rd post is lousy with typos):

In 2004, the Ukraine held its fourth presidential election since becoming independent of the Soviet Union. Viktor Yanukovych (later Manafort's client) was the incumbent Prime Minister (2002-2005) under President Kuchma and Kuchma's chosen successor. The opposition leader was Viktor Yushchenko. You might remember some of this because Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin which has been implicated in several other poisonings by the FSB (formerly the KGB) including that of Alexander Litvinenko, a critic of Putin (who unlike Yushchenko, died).

At any rate, there were widespread allegations of voter fraud, voter intimidation — and of course Yushchenko was poisoned — and the resulting protests in late November of 2004, which were spearheaded by Yulia Tymoshenko, became known as the Orange Revolution (orange being a color associated with Yushchenko's campaign). In December, the Supreme Court of Ukraine invalidated the results of the rigged runoff that pro-Putin crony Yanukovych had "won."

The result was that Yushchenko won and he appointed Tymoshenko (acting) Prime Minister in 2005 (later ratified).

Reuters - Ukrainian court revives case over ArcelorMittal steel mill

ArcelorMittal bought the Kryviy Rih steel mill for about $4.8 billion at an open tender in 2005 after a newly-elected government cancelled its sale to Ukrainian steel moguls Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk for $800 million a year earlier.

The re-sale was one of the first major moves by the government of Yulia Tymoshenko who became prime minister after leading the 2004 Orange Revolution protests against then-president Leonid Kuchma and his would-be successor Viktor Yanukovich.

Akhmetov, Ukraine's wealthiest man and Tymoshenko is now serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse of office over her role in a gas deal with Russia while she was prime minister. The European Union has said her sentence smacks of political revenge by President Yanukovich.'s key backer, and Pinchuk, also a billionaire and Kuchma's son-in-law, sued the government then but their lawsuit was shelved in 2005. Tymoshenko quickly fell out with her Orange ally Viktor Yushchenko who became president in 2005. In the next election in 2010, she ran for the presidency herself but lost narrowly to Yanukovich.

Yanukovich's backers such as Akhmetov and Dmytro Firtash, another billionaire industrialist, have since successfully challenged government decisions made under Tymoshenko, winning compensation or having their revoked licences renewed.

Tymoshenko is now serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse of office over her role in a gas deal with Russia while she was prime minister. The European Union has said her sentence smacks of political revenge by President Yanukovich.

So here we have it. The wealthiest man in the Ukraine (Akhmetov) for whom Manafort was working, introduced him to Yanukovich. After Yanukovich's rigged election was tossed out, Tymoshenko became Prime Minister and reversed the Kryviy Rih steel mill deal which was worth BILLIONS to Akhmetov and Carter Page's pal Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of pro-Russian Leonid Kuchma who was the President of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005 (during which the deal and the rigged election took place).

One of Tymoshenko's first acts as Prime Minister was to reverse the $800 million deal organized by the cronies and auction the company for SIX TIMES more money. After Manafort got Yanukovich (chosen successor of Pinchuk's father-in-law) back in power, Tymoshenko was locked up in retaliation.

It's funny because for a period on ATS, not too long ago, The Council Of Foreign Relations was the boogeyman and a reason not to support a candidate...


I found this transcript about "Black Gold" with Carter Page...

Black Gold Pipeline Politics


It's a lengthy read...

I found this excerpt interesting...

PAGE: I agree. And in terms of other potential initiatives, I think one point which could be perhaps looked at in a bit more detail is the possibility of pursuing additional projects with Russia. I think, obviously, there are certain considerations which need to be brought into play in terms of, you know, are they a competitor? Are they a potential partner? I think to the extent we structure the relationship in much more of a partnership type of an arrangement, I think potentially that could make a very positive effect over time. Not an easy goal, but it's definitely worth keeping that on the agenda.

So as far back as 2007 (as if 2016, he is still a CFR stooge by the way) he has been looking into dealings with Russia in what can only be assumed as a two thronged hegemony of Oil ownership.


I'll keep digging.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Richard R. Burt, another CFR stooge...

Atlantic Council: Lowering Russian Gas Prices

He is listed as a Director of Atlantic Council...



As much as the Trumpers were using CFR links to negate other candidates during the Primaries, Trump certainly knows how to pick em.

a reply to: theantediluvian


I wonder if Hilary will ask Trump if he would allow Russian Troops on American soil in times of unrest?

Trump is owned by Putin, paid off before the election? By Russia?? and you people support him?

a reply to: Hazardous1408

I didn't even get into Burt did I? Richard Burt is a former Reagan aide and ambassador to Germany. He actually the guy behind Trump's foreign policy speech.

Reuters - Former Reagan aide helped write Trump foreign policy speech

A former senior official in the Reagan administration and prominent Republican foreign policy insider told Reuters he provided input for the late-April foreign policy speech by Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"I was asked to contribute material" for Trump's April 27 speech at the Center for the National Interest, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said Richard Burt.

Burt said he is not part of Trump's campaign.

Richard Burt sits on the senior advisory council of Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest private commercial bank.

EDIT:

Looks like the Clinton campaign has put out snippets about some of these Kremlin-connected people Trump has surrounded himself with (Manafort, Page, Boris Epshteyn, Burt, etc) so maybe some of this will be covered in the debate tonight.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Burt said he is not part of Trump's campaign.

That doesn't wash with me.

If you're writing a Presidential Candidates speeches you're part of the campaign.
No two ways about it.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
Sometimes I wish I'd been a little less snarky recently

Now your stealing my lines?...
I'm almost flattered.

Wonderful post. Trump might be a Russian Trojan horse, maybe unwillingly. Are these the "best and brightest" people he said he'll surround himself with? S&F

Hell, I'd vote Putin over Hillary or Trump anyday. If Trump is willing to work with and have a good relationship with Russia - that's a huge plus compared to Hillary starting/continuing war with Russia.

Very interesting topic, AD.

I do not have much to add, but this OP has sent me bouncing from link to link to read-up on the names you have provided. Found this interesting about Manafort:

On a Friday in 1985, Christopher Lehman left his job at the National Security Council. The following Monday, he was flying with Manafort, his new boss, to the bush of Angola to pitch the Chinese-trained guerilla Jonas Savimbi, who wanted covert assistance from the U.S. to bolster his rebellion against Angola’s Marxist government. Savimbi briefly left a battle against Cuban assault forces and signed a $600,000 contract.

The money bought Savimbi a revised reputation. Despite his client’s Maoist background, Manafort reinvented him as a freedom fighter. He knew all the tricks for manipulating right-wing opinion. Savimbi was sent to a seminar at the American Enterprise Institute, hosted by the anticommunist stalwart Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a reception thrown by the Heritage Foundation, and another confab at Freedom House. (Kirkpatrick introduced Savimbi, who conscripted soldiers, burned enemies, and indiscriminately laid land mines, as a “linguist, philosopher, poet, politician, warrior ... one of the few authentic heroes of our time.”)

Manafort’s campaign worked wonders. His lobbying helped convince Congress to send Savimbi hundreds of millions in covert aid. Indeed, every time Angola stood on the precipice of peace talks, Manafort, Black worked to generate a fresh round of arms—shipments that many experts believe extended the conflict.

www.slate.com...

It appears Trump has many connections with some very shady people. Also seems that the Heritage Foundation, a beloved Right Wing organization, is connected to their dealings.

Edit:

The afformentioned Freedom House group also connects to Ukraine.

On December 7, 2004, U.S. House Representative Ron Paul criticized Freedom House for allegedly administering a U.S.-funded program in Ukraine where "much of that money was targeted to assist one particular candidate." Paul said that

"one part that we do know thus far is that the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), granted millions of dollars to the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), which is administered by the U.S.-based Freedom House. PAUCI then sent U.S. Government funds to numerous Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This would be bad enough and would in itself constitute meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. But, what is worse is that many of these grantee organizations in Ukraine are blatantly in favor of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko."[

en.wikipedia.org...

On the Freedom House aspect, the Wiki page states that Jeane Kirkpatrick is a former board member.

Stone says the two of them "talked", but she denies it.

Asked about his oft-noted relationship to Kirkpatrick, Stone said, “We talk politics—I take her at her word that she doesn’t want to run for the Senate or for president,” indicating with a wave of the hand that he advises her on her political future. Kirkpatrick told a different story. She remembered that someone named Roger Stone called her once. She said she didn’t wish to sound rude, but they “have no relationship whatsoever.”

www.slate.com...

Edit: Take a look at the wiki page. Lot's of interesting connections and names, including that of Otto Reich.

a reply to: introvert

That's interesting. So the US was funding Viktor Yushchenko through Freedom House against the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych. Thanks for the links.

It appears Trump has many connections with some very shady people.

Yep!

a reply to: theantediluvian

Why do I have a feeling that if Trump is elected, all the fears ATS has over corruption among Hillary Clinton will come true about Trump's administration? Like I always hear a lot of hot air about Clinton's corruption, but this is actual meat and potatoes. It's just a shame that the usual suspects have already written it off as nothing to see.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I knew Gazprom, Syria and Crimea would factor into his Russian ties somehow. You did an outstanding job with the this. I agree with Reldra, you need to get some press credentials dude.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

The way I see it there are one of two things likely to be true:

1. Trump is a feckless unwitting victim of his own ignorance. He has no foreign policy experience and obviously no desire to learn anything about geopolitics. He can't even be bothered to do debate prep.

So it could be that through Stone/Manafort and possibly one or two of his close business acquaintances, he's been surrounded by Kremlin operatives and he's simply relying on them for opinions. Coupled with the praise from Putin and what certainly seems to be the efforts of Russian hackers, he's become a useful idiot.

2. Trump came into the election pro-Putin and has purposefully surrounded himself with like minded people / Kremlin operatives. If that's the case, Carter Page could be conducting Trump-approved back channel communications with Russian officials.

In either case, his foreign policy seems to boil down to allowing Russia to achieve greater influence.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Yea. I read your first point and was going to immediately agree that that was the likely case (I still kind of believe, at least I HOPE that is the case), then I read the second point and it makes sense too. Trump isn't exactly stupid. He may APPEAR dumb, but he is just ignorant. Ignorance doesn't mean dumb though. There is a good possibility he knows EXACTLY what he is doing. And that is kind of scary.

Why isn't this front page on the site? Although speculative this is some of the most compelling evidence of Trump's closet full of skeletons I've read anywhere. If true it could mean he's unwittingly giving a foreign government influence at the highest level possible. I don't see how more people aren't shouting this from the rooftops.

From my reading, all I saw was George Soros being affiliated with both Trump/Clinton . Great post S&F

a reply to: theantediluvian

Very well put together. I am still going through some of the links, but I think that there is no doubt Carter page has some very shady relations to Russia.

As you know I am leaning towards Trump, and my biggest reason for this is that he is supposedly anti establishment.

But ever since he got the nomination, he seems to be bringing more and more establishment people on board, and that is troubling to me.

However, I still think Hillary is the ultimate establishment candidate. But it is sad that we do not have better options than this during this election.