So Carter Page has been interviewed by the FBI. The interview was “at length.”

FBI agents have repeatedly questioned former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page about his contacts with Russians and his interactions with the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of ­go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with Page’s account.

The interviews with the FBI are the most extensive known questioning of a potential suspect in the probe of possible Russian connections to associates of President Trump. The questioning of Page came more than a month before the Russian investigation was put under the direction of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Page confirmed Monday that the interviews occurred, calling them “extensive discussions.” He declined to say if he has spoken to investigators since the March interviews.

There is an old saying that goes, “No one ever talked themselves out of being arrested but plenty of people have talked themselves into it.” It is difficult to see how ten hours of questioning by federal agents eager to collect a scalp (though Page’s would be a fairly pathetic trophy) could possibly be good news for him. Even if he’s innocent of everything but felonious mopery with the intent to loiter (and that is my view of Page’s level of criminality) if he can’t be charged with lying to a federal agent after that much talking then the FBI was not really interested in him.

Of the entire crew that is under the microscope right now, Page is the one guy who is singularly unprepared to deal with a federal investigation because he actually believes he is innocent and seems to be working under the charming and naive impression that he will be allowed to clear his name. That isn’t how the system works. The best he can hope for is to be the Russian stooge who was too smart to get indicted and that is probably out of his reach right now.

If you close your eyes, you can hear the cell door slam and Bubba demanding that Page run down to the canteen and bring him a sammich.