Russian spy targeted former Trump adviser Carter Page in 2013

Carter Page.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/CNN)

In 2013, Carter Page, an energy consultant and future campaign adviser to Donald Trump, was targeted for recruitment by Russian spies, BuzzFeed News reports.

Page first met Victor Podobnyy, a Russian intelligence operative working at the time at Moscow's U.N. office in New York, in January 2013 at an energy conference. In January 2015, after federal investigators broke up a Russian spy ring looking for details on how to develop alternative energy, Podobnyy and two other Russians were charged by the U.S. government for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government, BuzzFeed News reports. In a complaint filed by the government, there is the transcript of a recorded conversation between Podobnyy and another man, with Podobnyy discussing his attempt to recruit someone referred to as "Male-1." Page confirmed to BuzzFeed News that he is "Male-1."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.