Page was a target because he went to Russia. Period. He was targeted AS A SPY under Title I. That allowed them to target EVERYBODY ELSE who had any contact with him. That included Trump, Manafort, Conway, and anyone who had any contact with any of them. By essentially accusing Page of being a spy, they could wiretap the whole lot of them.
But the FBI used the Clinton Dossier as their primary justification for spying on Team Trump!
Good answer on the real reason. I am curious about what the stated reason was in the memo. Obviously your reason is correct, but they couldn’t get a warrant with that on it.
Ouderkirk...... let’s assume a crapload of unmasking daily updates were published in the Presidential daily briefings but one decoded all the whos being referenced in the PDBs. They could never be made public, so what sort of court/trial would handle the suits of the unmaskees being discussed everyday for a year or more? How can you prove you were being discussed if the evidence is above top secret?
Exactly right. The Carter page warrant allowed wiretapping the entire Trump Tower and Trump campaign. Just like Trump claimed they did.
Now take it one step further, and realize that every US citizen, except Carter Page caught on an intercept, was supposed to be "masked", i.e. their identity was to be hidden.
Next think back to the big "unmasking" issue. In the final months of the Odunghole administration, there were way too many requests, always fulfilled, for "unmasking" of US citizens. This was how the RATs were watching Trump. And, even without the unmasking, they knew exactly what was said, even if they had to wait to find out who said it.