According to former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, giving information to Russian spies is really not that big of a deal; you just have to try and see his side of the matter.

Page, who has been under surveillance by the FBI for his repeated contacts with Russian operatives, was a guest on Good Morning America Tuesday, and host George Stephanopoulos immediately asked him why he had given information to a known Russian spy. Page replied:

“I was teaching a course… at NYU, and I told him a couple of things about what I was talking about in my course, and I gave him a couple of notes, uh, documents that I gave my students. So in terms of, when you say, ‘Giving documents to a quote-unquote spy’… it sounds a lot worse than reality, but that’s reality.”

What about that boast Page made in 2013 about being an adviser to the staff of the Kremlin? Stephanopoulos asked Page:

“That does lead people to believe — is this guy working with Russia?”

Again, Page tried to downplay the seriousness of his actions:

“There was a lot of people advising. We were an informal group. We met in Geneva, Paris, New York… the first meeting was in the New York Stock Exchange, the heart of capitalism!”

Yeah, because where you commit treason makes all the difference in the world, doesn’t it?

That led the host to point out how people could certainly think that Page was indeed selling out his own country:

“But you can understand how that could raise questions and lead to probable cause. At one point you say you’re an adviser to the Kremlin, then you’re an adviser to Donald Trump!”

So Page gave information to a Russian spy and repeatedly met with Russians during the campaign, but we’re supposed to believe it was all just innocent? Try selling that one to Robert Mueller and a grand jury.