Former Trump Aide Page Sues DNC, Law Firm Over Steele Dossier

Carter Page, petroleum industry consultant and former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign, in Washington on May 28, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

President Donald Trump’s former campaign aide Carter Page filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Perkins Coie law firm over the salacious and unverified dossier they helped fund that was produced by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.

The lawsuit, filed this week in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the DNC, the law firm, and other parties “used false information, misrepresentations and other misconduct to direct the power of the international intelligence apparatus and the media industry against [Page] to further their political agenda.”

Page served as an informal foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election. He was accused of being a Russian asset and put under surveillance by FBI agents, who found no evidence of wrongdoing. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications to spy on Page showed a slew of omissions and errors, including relying on the unsubstantiated dossier produced by Steele.

The dossier was funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the DNC through the Perkins Coie law firm, which retained the Fusion GPS firm. That firm retained Steele in April 2016 to produce negative information on then-candidate Trump.

“In connection with an effort to counter the Trump campaign, Defendants undertook to develop opposition research regarding Trump and his campaign, including persons associated with that campaign,” the new lawsuit states.

Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 16, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Former MI6 official Christopher Steele in a file photo. (AP Photo)

“As part of this effort, Defendants developed a dossier replete with falsehoods about numerous individuals associated with the Trump campaign—especially Dr. Page. Defendants then sought to tarnish the Trump campaign and its affiliates (including Dr. Page) by publicizing this false information.”

The dossier mobilized media outlets against Page, according to the suit, effectively destroying his life. Page, who faced death threats and struggled to get customers for his businesses, said the parties defamed him and injured his reputation and interfered with his and his businesses’ prospects.

Page is seeking “an award of compensatory, special and punitive damages in appropriate amounts to be established at trial; injunctive relief prohibiting the publication or republication of the defamatory statements,” and court costs.

The Democratic National Committee and Perkins Coie didn’t immediately return a request for comment.