Donald Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page has invoked the name of Martin Luther King Jr. in a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) accusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of carrying out a witch hunt against him and members of the new administration over possible ties to Russia.

Furthermore, Carter argues that the Russia investigation is motivated by the Clinton family, which he refers to as a “regime” in his letter. Page speculates that he has found himself in the crosshairs for being Catholic, a man, and a military veteran. He goes on to request that the DOJ look into the “disinformation, suppression of dissent, hate crimes and other abuses” that were carried out by Hillary and her team during the 2016 presidential elections.

“The actions by the Clinton regime and their associates may be among the most extreme examples of human rights violations observed during any election in U.S. history since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was similarly targeted for his anti-war views in the 1960’s.”

Carter Page was named a potential foreign policy adviser during Donald Trump's presidential campaign last year, but allegations that he met with Russian officials pushed him away from that post in September. He now claims that those efforts are part of a Clinton conspiracy. [Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo]

When pressed further by investigative journalism site, The Intercept, about how the Clinton campaign has committed hate crimes, Carter Page responded that he had faced constant harassment from Hillary’s team.

“It all seems to be pretty textbook definition to me (and my lawyers). I’ve been harassed non-stop for the last year, based on these and other lies originated by the Clinton campaign.”

Formerly, Carter was a Merrill Lynch investment banker in Moscow, and now he heads a New York consulting firm. After the president had named him as one of five potential security advisers last March, Trump’s own administration sought to downplay Page’s involvement in foreign policy decision-making.

In September, he became a larger problem for the Trump campaign when Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for an investigation into reported meetings between Page and sanctioned members of the Russian government. These efforts, particularly coming from the FBI and CIA, appear to be where he draws parallels with Martin Luther King Jr.

Carter himself has also diminished his role in the White House. Speaking with PBS Newshour in an interview where he referred to the allegations against him as “fake news,” Page highlighted that he had never actually met privately with Trump, nor did he consider himself to have a significant voice in the government. Still, he did claim that Russia was being used unfairly as a device to discredit him and Donald Trump, largely at the behest of establishment Democrats.

“It comes from deep animosity and deep negative feelings against the Russians. And I think, you know, you just have to look back at the history of the last 70 years, and it’s pretty clear where that originates from. And Mrs. Clinton and her team did a great job of ramping that up. And it continues to this day, with the help of the likes of Sally Yates and others that were holdovers from the Obama administration.”

Carter is likely referring to the work of federal intelligence agencies to discredit and intimidate King when he became the face of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Widespread surveillance of Dr. King’s life has been well-documented, including a letter released in 2014 that appears to indicate that the FBI was encouraging the activist to commit suicide, saying the agency had proof of extramarital affairs that would prove what a “fraud” he was. The organization also repeatedly sent such information to his wife in an attempt to break up their marriage, reported Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“No person can overcome the facts, no even a fraud like yourself. Lend your sexually psychotic ear to the enclosure. You will find yourself and in all your dirt, filth, evil and moronic talk exposed on the record for all time…. Listen to yourself, you filthy, abnormal animal. You are on the record… there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do it.”

In recent years, the FBI has made an example of what current director Jamey Comey refers to as the agency’s “shameful” legacy on Martin Luther. New agents are expected to undergo training meant to root out racial biases that have plagued such organizations for years, specifically focusing in on their treatment of King Jr. Such classes also include explorations of other times that the FBI took a controversial stance on racial issues, such as when J. Edgar Hoover refused an investigation into the murder of Emmett Till, saying the uproar around the case was likely the work of Communist agitators, reported LA Times.

In 2013, Comey ordered that all new agents must visit the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, in addition to a trip to the Holocaust memorial, reported Reuters.

“It will serve as a different kind of lesson – one more personal to the bureau – of the dangers of becoming untethered to oversight and accountability.”

Though Martin Luther King did briefly consider running for president, he ultimately decided against any such aspirations, reported Rolling Stone. Dr. King thought it best to put his energy behind grassroots organizing such as the Poor People’s Campaign rather than face an uphill battle for the nation’s highest office that he was guaranteed to lose.

“I have come to think of my role as one which operates outside the realm of partisan politics.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. faced a concentrated effort from federal intelligence agency's to undermine his work in the 1960s civil rights movement, something that Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy adviser, sees happening today with the current administration over ties with Russia. [Photo by William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images]

Do you think it’s fair for Carter Page to compare the investigation into links between Russia and the Trump administration to the FBI’s efforts to destroy Martin Luther King Jr.?

[Featured Image by Express Newspapers/Getty Images]