A screen grab of ex-Trump adviser Carter Page on CNN's The Lead.
Who is Carter Page? (2017)
01:35 - Source: CNN

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Trump called the Russia investigation a "witch hunt"

After Trump came to his defense, Page said again that the two have never met

Washington CNN  — 

President Donald Trump came to the defense of Carter Page Wednesday after months of staying quiet about his former foreign policy adviser.

“So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don’t want him to testify. He blows away their…. …case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing “the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan…” Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets early Wednesday.

Page is one of four former Trump operatives at the center of congressional and federal investigations.

Despite Trump’s tweets, Page told CNN that his relationship with the President hasn’t changed.

“The President is absolutely right that the time has come for some truth and I hope that they allow me to provide it to Congress. I guess we’ll see what happens,” Page told CNN.

“I don’t see any change,” Page told CNN, reiterating that he and Trump have never spoken to each other directly, or ever met.

In a news conference in February, Trump put distance between himself and Page.

“I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him,” Trump said at the time. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him. And he actually said he was a very low-level member of I think a committee for a short period of time. I don’t think I ever met him. Now, it’s possible that I walked into a room and he was sitting there, but I don’t think I ever met him.”

Page said in a letter last week that he was going to testify before the House Intelligence Committee June 6, but he said later Wednesday that tentative discussions for him to appear fell apart.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Russia investigation, said he and Texas Rep. Michael Conaway, the leader of the probe, “have agreed to review relevant documents before interviewing witnesses, as you would expect in a comprehensive investigation,” Schiff said. “And while we anticipate interviews to begin shortly, we have agreed that the pace of those interviews will be dictated by the needs of the investigation and not the preferences of outside parties.”

The Washington Post reported that the FBI obtained a FISA warrant last summer to monitor Page’s communications, under suspicion that he was acting as a spy on behalf of Russia. Page has flatly denied that he was working as a spy for Russia.