Who is Trump's former adviser Carter Page? Did he work for a Russian spy?

Carter Page is a New York business consultant who was President Trump's former adviser. It is now being reported that two years before joining the Trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser, he was targeted for recruitment as an intelligence source by Russian spies promising favors for business opportunities in Russia.

According to a sealed FBI complaint, Carter Page met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013. The name of the Russian intelligence operative is Victor Podobnyy. 

Victor Podobnyy was later charged by the US government alongside two others for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The charges, filed in January 2015, came after federal investigators busted a Russian spy ring that was seeking information on US sanctions as well as efforts to develop alternative energy. Page is an energy consultant.

A court filing by the US government contains a transcript of a recorded conversation in which Podobnyy speaks with one of the other men busted in the spy ring, Igor Sporyshev, about trying to recruit someone identified as “Male-1.” BuzzFeed News has confirmed that “Male-1” is Page.

Here is Rachel Maddow talking about Carter Page bombshell: