Carter Page also refused to answer whether he was in contact with anyone at the White House. | AP Photo Trump campaign adviser admits meeting with Russian ambassador at RNC

A former adviser to President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would “not deny” that he met with the Russian ambassador during the Republican National Convention, following revelations of previously undisclosed meetings between Trump operatives and Russian officials.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Carter Page initially evaded questions about whether he met with Sergey Kislyak in Cleveland, before saying, "I'm not going to deny that I talked to him. Although I will say that I never met him anywhere outside of Cleveland, let’s just say that much,” Page said.


Page, who acted as an unpaid foreign policy adviser to Trump during the campaign, had previously denied meeting with Russian officials in an interview with PBS’ Judy Woodruff.

Hayes pressed Page on his previous role in the Trump campaign, which he agreed was part of the committee that advised the president, although Page said he didn't advise the president directly.

“You know, similarly, I don't like talking about internal discussions. It's the old first rule of fight club, don't talk about fight club,” Page said.

Page said he “was not aware of” speaking to any intelligence officials during a visit to Russia in 2016, where he said he met with “scholars and professors and some students."

When asked about whether he had any conversations involving sanctions and the Trump campaign, Page said there was “nothing specific or worth discussing that was brought up at the time.”

“I have literally spoken at some of the top universities in Moscow dozens of times in the past. I lived there for years, and I was a regular at many of the top universities. So there's nothing out of the ordinary of me going and being the commencement speaker.”

Page also denied acting as a liaison between Russia and the Trump campaign.

When Hayes asked about whether he believed Russians illegally broke into the Democratic National Committee’s email system to sabotage the 2016 election, Page again deflected.

“You know, I don't know anything about those accusations or those theories,” Page said. “I'm skeptical about it. I — in a letter I wrote to the civil rights division at Department of Justice outlining some of the crimes committed against me during the campaign, I actually included as an appendix, appendix B, the — a list of things where there's big questions surrounding that.”

Page also refused to answer whether he was in contact with anyone at the White House, but told Hayes he does know “various people there.”

“Are you in touch with anyone at the White House?” Hayes asked.

“I know various people there. I don’t ...,” Page said.

“That's a yes.”

“I don't talk about any specific discussions.”

This article tagged under: Carter Page

Sergey Kislyak