Carter Page, the American finance professional who was tangentially and briefly associated with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has requested that the House Select Committee on Intelligence investigate the possibility of “collusion” between Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and members of the Obama administration in perpetuating the unsubstantiated narrative about Donald Trump and Russia.

Page made the request in a letter sent on Tuesday to Reps. Michael Conaway (R-TC) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the two congressmen overseeing the House Russia probe.  Page also forwarded a copy of the letter to Breitbart News.

In this missive, Page wrote:

Given the continuation of smoke and mirrors tactics seen in recent days, I would also urge the Committee to investigate the growing evidence of collusion between Clinton campaign associates, (former FBI Director James) Comey and other former Obama Administration officials.

As you are probably aware, this began with the well-orchestrated pressure they sought to exert on the FBI to have me investigated last summer in the immediate wake of preliminary falsehoods from the 2016 Dodgy Dossier.

Page was referring to the controversial 35-page dossier on Trump compiled by a former British intelligence officer which CNN reported served as part of the FBI’s justification for seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrant to clandestinely monitor Page.

Page contends that the warrant was obtained utilizing false evidence and he has been seeking the public disclosure of information containing the justification for what he refers to as the “illegitimate” FISA warrant.

Speaking to Breitbart News on Tuesday, Page stated, “Last year’s collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration whose leader endorsed her was so blatant, extensive and obvious that it might be difficult for Congressional and law enforcement investigators to know where to even begin.”

In his Tuesday letter to Conaway and Schiff, Page offered to testify in an open hearing. He charged “serious mismanagement of Obama Administration appointees assigned to the U.S. Intelligence Community” to investigate alleged Russian interference in the latest presidential election.

Referring specifically to Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, Page writes:

“Throughout recent months, it has remained unfortunate that these individuals have further contributed to the fictional narrative regarding last year’s events during many hours of misleading testimony before your Committee on national television.”

“To continue perpetuating an investigation without basis in fact for political purposes has no place in a democracy committed to the rule of law.  Neither does the relentless slandering of law-abiding citizens like myself who have been denied their civil and political rights throughout this ongoing barrage of false information that has persisted as a consequence of the Clinton-Obama-Comey regime’s misdeeds for almost a year now.”

In testimony last Tuesday, Brennan affirmed that after viewing all of the evidence that was available to him on the Russia probe he is not aware of any collusion between Russia and members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

In their book “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” authors  Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes quote Clinton insiders explaining how immediately after the election Clinton’s team sought to place the blame for her loss on the narrative of Russian interference.

“She wants to make sure all these narratives get spun the right way,” one longtime Clinton confidant was quoted in the book as saying.

According to the book, “within twenty-four hours” after Clinton conceded, senior campaign staffers John Podesta and Robby Mook hatched the plan to blame alleged Russian hacking as well as the news media’s focus on the failed candidate’s private email server.

Meanwhile, on April 11, the Washington Post cited “law enforcement and other U.S. officials” stating that, as part of its investigation into alleged Russian collusion, the FBI obtained a secret FISA court order last summer to monitor Page’s communications.

The Post acknowledged it was reporting on leaked information, highlighting that the officials “spoke about the court order on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of a counterintelligence probe.”

The Post further reported on the court order:

The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials.

The newspaper allowed that Page had not been accused of any crimes. It reported that the FISA court renewed the 90-day warrant on Page more than once, according to the officials.

The U.S. government has not responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seeking information on why Page was surveilled.

In April, CNN reported that the controversial 35-page dossier on Trump compiled by former intelligence agent Christopher Steele served as part of the FBI’s justification for seeking the FISA court’s approval to clandestinely monitor Page.

In his testimony earlier this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight, then-FBI Director James B. Comey repeatedly refused to answer questions about his agency’s ties to Steele or the dossier, including whether the document was used in the Russia probe.

The partially discredited dossier contains wild and unproven claims that the Russians had information on Trump and sordid sexual acts, including the mocked claim that Trump hired prostitutes and had them urinate on a hotel room bed.

Steele was reportedly paid by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans to investigate Trump. Last month, Steele conceded in court documents that part of his work still needed to be verified.

The Steele document, which Page refers to as the “Dodgy Dossier,” makes the unsubstantiated claim that Page met with Russian officials as an envoy for the Trump campaign to discuss policy issues and topics related to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Page has steadfastly denied meeting any of the officials mentioned in Steele’s dossier and he says he never served as an envoy for the Trump campaign.

Page and campaign

Page’s role in Trump’s presidential campaign has long been seemingly exaggerated in the news media.

In an interview with the Post’s editorial board last March, Trump briefly mentioned Page as a member of his foreign policy advisory team. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks clarified that Page’s role was “informal.”

Page has been cited in various news media reports as an “ex-foreign policy adviser” to Trump’s campaign and a “Trump associate.” An article in the New Yorker recently claimed he was a member of Trump’s “inner circle.”

In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month, Page states that he never met Trump and that he was an “informal, unpaid campaign volunteer” and a “very junior member of the Trump movement who didn’t actually have any direct one-on-one discussions or meetings with our candidate.”

Page charges that the news media has been inflating his relationship with Trump’s presidential campaign in an effort to tarnish the U.S. president.

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.