The federal government has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Carter Page, the Trump campaign adviser whose communications were monitored during the FBI's Russia investigation in 2016.
Page had challenged the surveillance, which relied on applications submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. An inspector general's review determined those applications contained significant errors and omissions that undermined their accuracy and reliability.
The settlement resolves years of legal proceedings stemming from the wiretap authorization. Page's case became a focal point in broader debates over FBI procedures during the Russia investigation and the standards governing classified surveillance operations.
The inspector general's findings highlighted failures in how the bureau compiled its case for monitoring Page. Those gaps and inaccuracies raised questions about internal oversight mechanisms meant to prevent such mistakes in sensitive national security matters.
The payment represents one of the largest settlements the government has made in response to complaints about surveillance practices during that contentious period of investigation.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "This settlement confirms what critics have long argued: the FBI's surveillance application process had real problems that nobody caught in time."
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