The Trump administration has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by former campaign adviser Carter Page, closing a years-long legal battle over controversial FBI surveillance during the 2016 Russia investigation.
On April 2, the settlement was disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court, in which Solicitor General D. John Sauer confirmed that the government and Page had “agreed to settle” his claims against the United States. The agreement effectively ends part of the case that had been under appeal.
“The settlement of a case on appeal renders the appeal moot,” the government told the court, adding that the agreement resolves Page’s claims under the PATRIOT Act against federal agencies.
While the filing did not disclose financial terms, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to the Associated Press the settlement amount at $1.25 million.
Carter Page lawsuit rooted in FISA surveillance
Page, an informal foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was placed under surveillance after the FBI obtained four warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) between October 2016 and June 2017.
Those warrants were based on suspicions that Page was acting as an agent of Russia — allegations he has consistently denied. He was never charged with any crime.
FISA allows the government to conduct secret electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes if it can show probable cause that a target is linked to a foreign power. But it also prohibits unauthorized surveillance and provides legal remedies for violations.
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Page’s lawsuit argued that the surveillance was unlawful, claiming the FBI relied on flawed and misleading information in its warrant applications.
A 2019 Justice Department inspector general report later backed key aspects of those concerns, concluding the warrants contained “myriad errors and omissions” and lacked sufficient factual support in critical areas.
The report found that the initial application included “multiple factual assertions” that were “inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported,” and that those errors were repeated in subsequent renewals.
Among the most significant issues were the FBI’s failure to disclose that Page had previously provided information to another U.S. government agency, as well as its reliance on politically sourced material — including the Steele dossier — without fully verifying its claims.
Errors, omissions, and fallout
In total, investigators identified 17 major errors and omissions across the four warrant applications.
The FBI later acknowledged shortcomings in its process and implemented more than 40 corrective steps to improve accuracy and oversight in future surveillance requests.
Former officials involved in approving the warrants testified that they would not have signed off on them had they known the full extent of the problems.
Page also alleged that details of the surveillance were improperly leaked to the media, citing 2017 reports that disclosed the existence of the FISA warrants.
He told lawmakers at the time that he believed he had been the victim of “unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance.”
Despite the inspector general’s findings, Page’s legal claims faced significant procedural obstacles.
A federal judge dismissed his lawsuit in 2022, and an appeals court upheld the dismissal in 2024, ruling that his claims were barred by the statute of limitations.
Page appealed to the Supreme Court, but the newly announced settlement renders key parts of that appeal moot.
The government emphasized that the agreement applies only to claims against federal entities, not to those against individual former FBI officials, including ex-Director James Comey and other senior figures named in the lawsuit.
Broader pattern
The settlement comes just weeks after the Justice Department agreed to pay roughly $1.2 million to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, another figure central to the Russia investigation.
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Flynn had sued the government, alleging malicious prosecution tied to his case, which ended with a presidential pardon after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
The Justice Department described that settlement as an effort to address what it called a “historic injustice.”
The Page settlement is likely to intensify ongoing political debates over the origins and conduct of the Russia investigation.
Supporters of Trump have pointed to the inspector general’s findings as evidence of systemic bias and misconduct, while critics note that the broader investigation, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump.
Mueller’s team found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, and the surveillance of Page represented only a small part of the overall probe.
