House Democrats don't want President Donald Trump's former aide Carter Page to speak before an Intelligence Committee hearing because he "might blow up their story" concerning Russian connections with the campaign, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday.

"I think the Democrats and the news media have a one-sided false story," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program. "I hope Carter Paige will be allowed to speak. If they refuse to let him speak, I hope they find a forum and speak without him."

Page has insisted, through a letter to the House Intelligence Committee, that he be allowed to present evidence refuting "false or misleading information" being presented about Russia and the Trump campaign, after he'd learned he may not have the opportunity to testify.

"The Republicans who run the committee ought to run this committee," Gingrich said. "This nonsense of letting the Democrats define everything when the Republicans are supposedly in charge, I don't understand it, and I think the Republicans ought to get a grip. If he wants to speak, bring him in."

Gingrich also spoke out against media stories claiming Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Kushner had tried to establish a back channel for communications with Russia.

"That entire story tells you how hysterical and deeply anti-Trump the elite media has become," he said. "The fact is, first of all, that informal communications is a deep part of diplomacy. Folks tend to forget in the Cuban missile crisis, it was an ABC correspondent meeting with the head of the KGB in Washington which created the back channel that helped us avoid a nuclear war. Nobody thought that was bad."

Obama also created back channels with Iran, and President Richard Nixon created one to China, said Gingrich, and he said he wonders if The Washington Post "has somebody with a sense of history who understands how stupid the stories have become."

"They use language like bombshell. Was it a bombshell when John F Kennedy did it? Was it a bombshell when Barack Obama did it? This is just one more symptom of the pathology of the left and the fact that they've frankly lost all touch with reality."

Gingrich also said he hopes Trump follows through on leaving the Paris climate accord.

"He just got a letter from 22 senators, led by Mitch McConnell, asking him to pull out," Gingrich said. "If you say something is terrible when the other team does it, then when you're in charge, get rid of it. Don't say it was terrible and now we have to be responsible and do this. He has the power to pull out. It will be a real signal to the world that, in fact, we have changed. We are putting American interests first."