Carter Page is rapidly becoming The Most Interesting Man In The Country. After The Washington Post revealed that Page was the subject of a FISA warrant concerning his contact with Russian intelligence operatives and their attempts to make him an intelligence asset, Page has embarked on a truly weird—but marvelously strange—media tour, in which he is by turns completely oblivious and legally suicidal.

On Thursday, Page dropped by ABC News to talk to George Stephanopoulos, and Page was, well, amazing.

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Page on "Good Morning America" today if he met with anyone in the Russian government or connected to Russian intelligence during that trip. Page said he briefly said hello to one of the school's board members. When Stephanopoulos asked whether Page suggested in any of his conversations that Trump would be open to easing sanctions on Russia, Page initially responded, "I never offered that," but then said, "I don't recall every single word." Stephanopoulos pressed, "It sounds like, from what you're saying, it's possible you may have discussed the easing of sanctions." "Something may have come up in a conversation," Page replied. "I have no recollection, and there's nothing specifically that I would have done that would have given people that impression."

"Someone may have brought it up," he continued. "And if it was, it was not something I was offering or that someone was asking for…We'll see what comes out in this FISA transcript," he said, referring to surveillance collected after the FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor him under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act…

We'll see what comes out in this FISA transcript?

Is this guy serious? Does he have a lawyer and, if so, is his lawyer drunk? Tripping? Dead?

Is he playing eleventy-million dimensional chess, sending a warning to Whoever that he's out there in public and likely to say anything and that the whole thing isn't going to get hung on the neck of one Carter Page?

Right now, an awful lot is going on in the sprawling tumult concerning the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Paul Manafort is back in the news and so are his dealings with the Russian-backed despot in Ukraine. From The New York Times:

That morning, he stepped down from guiding Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign, after a brief tenure during which Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination, Democrats' emails were hacked and the campaign's contacts with Russia came under scrutiny. Dogged by revelations about past financial dealings in Ukraine, Mr. Manafort retreated from public view. But behind the scenes, he was busy with other matters. Papers were recorded that same day creating a shell company controlled by Mr. Manafort that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser. They were among $20 million in loans secured by properties belonging to Mr. Manafort and his wife… The transactions raise a number of questions, including whether Mr. Manafort's decision to turn to Trump-connected lenders was related to his role in the campaign, where he had agreed to serve for free.

This is not even to mention the president*'s flea-on-a-griddle comments over the past few days. The relationship between Russia and the United States is at an all-time low, but things are going to work out fine. (Chocolate cake is not yet involved. Maybe chocolate cake is for closers.) Devin Nunes' clumsy efforts at spin control have come to naught, and his credibility is in shambles. Meanwhile, the probe has been handed over to, among other people, Congressman Trey Gowdy.

And still, there's Carter Page, cruising the network news studios, leaving breadcrumbs everywhere. Either he's the worst covert operative who ever drew breath, or he's smarter than everybody else in this operation. Somebody out there knows everything and either that's Carter Page, or it's somebody who knows the truth about what Carter Page knows. John LeCarre would've tossed this manuscript weeks ago.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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