The administration issues a request to Mr. Trump's election campaign advisor

ASPEN, Colo. – The Justice Department on Saturday issued a request for access to former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page, who was suspected by the FBI of being a Russian agent.

The government had monitored Page under the Foreign Intelligence Oversight Act, and heavily redacted documents were made public after media organizations filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. requests for renewal of surveillance, was extraordinary and historic. During the four decades of existence of FISA, it is not certain that a request for surveillance has ever been published. Records related to FISA's operations and legal processes are among the most classified and best-preserved of the government. The New York Times, USA Today and the James Madison Project have all filed lawsuits for the publication of these documents.

This publication will certainly feed the political struggle between Republicans and Democrats on the merits of surveillance.

Republican lawmakers accused the Obama administration, which asked for the October 2016 oversight order, to rely on a controversial record of Donald Trump's alleged connections to Russia to support the order of supervision. The document, compiled by a former British intelligence officer, was used as a search for political opposition by Democrats. But the author, Christopher Steele, also shared his findings with the FBI because he feared that Trump may have been compromised by Russia.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee fought for months on page surveillance. The Republicans, who have already released some details on the claim, have accused the FBI of relying too much on the Steele record, which they described as politically motivated and uncorroborated.

But Democrats replied that the FISA application was based on more information than Steele. provided. And they said that Steele had been a reliable source of information for the FBI in the past.

"Even in redacted form, FISA's initial request and three renewals underline the FBI's legitimate concern [the] regarding Page activities while it was investigating Russia's interference," Rep. . Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), The leading Democrat on the House's Intelligence Committee, said Saturday. But he added: "Although I am delighted that these conspiracy theories are finally put to rest, the disclosure of these documents during a pending investigation should not have occurred", referring to the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in US elections. 19659010] The application shows that the FBI represented Steele in court as a source of trust. The FBI also revealed that his job was on behalf of a client who was perhaps looking for politically damaging information about Trump. Republicans accused the office of failing to inform the court of the political origins of the case.

Much of the more than 400 pages of petitions is redacted, making it impossible to know all the evidence the FBI has presented to a judge

In particular, entire sections of the application detailing the FBI's justification for believing that Page was a Russian agent are blackened. Some of the unexpurgated material refers to newspaper articles. But FISA applications generally rely on classified information and other sensitive information, according to officials familiar with the process.

The application identifies Page by name and says that he has engaged in "secret intelligence activities" in the name of Russia. recruitment of the Russian government. The application describes Russia as having interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Page denied being a Russian agent