The Justice Department has settled a lawsuit from Carter Page for $1.25 million, ending the former Trump campaign aide's fight over surveillance tied to the FBI's Russia investigation. The Trump administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it had reached the deal with Page, who had said in his 2020 suit that he was the victim of unlawful spying.
Page's complaint centered on alleged omissions and errors in 2016 and 2017 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that were intended to let investigators eavesdrop on him on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia. He was never charged with wrongdoing, but he appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts threw out his case, and the settlement now ends that dispute before the justices could act.
The settlement does not cover Page's claims against former FBI officials. A person familiar with the matter said the amount was $1.25 million. The Justice Department did not disclose terms beyond the settlement itself.
The case had drawn attention after a Justice Department inspector general report found significant problems with the four surveillance applications. The FBI said it had started more than 40 corrective steps to improve the accuracy and thoroughness of such applications. Even so, Page's surveillance remained only a narrow part of the broader Trump campaign-Russia investigation.
Special counsel Robert Mueller later concluded that Russia had interfered on Trump's behalf during the 2016 campaign, but his team said it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia. The Page settlement also follows a separate agreement in March, when the Justice Department settled a lawsuit from Michael Flynn for roughly $1.2 million. For Page, the answer to the fight he took to the Supreme Court is now financial, not judicial.
