When President Trump tweeted in March 2017 that the Obama administration "had his wires tapped" during the 2016 presidential campaign, he wasn't entirely wrong.

Earlier this week the New York Times published a story revealing the FBI was not only spying on the Trump campaign, but had at least one FBI informant embedded within it. Further, the piece reveals the FBI didn't have enough evidence to open a criminal investigation into members of the Trump campaign, so a counterintelligence investigation was launched instead.

Counterintelligence investigations can take years, but if the Russian government had influence over the Trump campaign, the F.B.I. wanted to know quickly. One option was the most direct: interview the campaign officials about their Russian contacts.

That was discussed but not acted on, two former officials said, because interviewing witnesses or subpoenaing documents might thrust the investigation into public view, exactly what F.B.I. officials were trying to avoid during the heat of the presidential race.

They said that anything the F.B.I. did publicly would only give fodder to Mr. Trump’s claims on the campaign trail that the election was rigged.

The F.B.I. obtained phone records and other documents using national security letters — a secret type of subpoena — officials said. And at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. That has become a politically contentious point, with Mr. Trump’s allies questioning whether the F.B.I. was spying on the Trump campaign or trying to entrap campaign officials.

The Washington Post has published a similar story:

The story came just days ahead of the expected release of a Department of Justice Inspector General report about how the FBI handled the criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information on her personal email server. Those who have followed the FBI saga closely have a theory about the timing and a new narrative:

Kimberley Strassel

✔@KimStrassel

16 May

Replying to @KimStrassel

2. Biggest takeaway: Govt "sources" admit that, indeed, the Obama DOJ and FBI spied on the Trump campaign. Spied. (Tho NYT kindly calls spy an "informant.") NYT slips in confirmation far down in story, and makes it out like it isn't a big deal. It is a very big deal.

Kimberley Strassel

✔@KimStrassel

3. In self-serving desire to get a sympathetic story about its actions, DOJ/FBI leakers are willing to provide yet more details about that "top secret" source (namely, that spying was aimed at Page/Papadopoulos)--making all more likely/certain source will be outed. That's on them

5:58 PM - May 16, 2018

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Katie Pavlich Katie Pavlich |Posted: May 18, 2018 10:30 AM
townhall.com

But don't worry it was an "informant" not a "spy" lol: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/997474432443707393

The FBI Spied on Donald Trump: Legacy Media Runs Massive Damage Control

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Trump was right again? Must be Russia

FBI SPY-OP EXPOSED: TRUMP CAMPAIGN INFILTRATED BY LONGTIME CIA/MI6 ASSET

Roger Stone, Infowars outed Halper a week ago

Zero Hedge - MAY 19, 2018

Following two weeks of mounting speculation over the FBI’s so-called “mole” inside the Trump campaign, the New York Times and Washington Post published separate accounts on Friday detailing the infiltration of the Trump campaign – a scheme revealed in a Wednesday report by the New York Times in which “at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos.” The Wednesday report also disclosed the existence of “Operation Crossfire Hurricane” – the FBI’s code name for their early Trump-Russia investigation.

Thanks to Friday’s carefully crafted deep-state disclosures by WaPo and the Times, along with actual reporting by the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross, we now know it wasn’t a mole at all – but 73-year-old University of Cambridge professor Stefan Halper, a US citizen, political veteran and longtime US Intelligence asset enlisted by the FBI to befriend and spy on three members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 US election.

While Halper’s name remains undisclosed by the NYT and WaPo, a quick read of all three articles linked above makes it abundantly clear that the “American academic who teaches in Britain” described by The Times, who “met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos” is none other than Halper – whose meetings with the Trump aides were revealed by the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross in late March.

Two months before the 2016 election, George Papadopoulos received a strange request for a meeting in London, one of several the young Trump adviser would be offered — and he would accept — during the presidential campaign.

The meeting request, which has not been reported until now, came from Stefan Halper, a foreign policy expert and Cambridge professor with connections to the CIA and its British counterpart, MI6.

Halper’s September 2016 outreach to Papadopoulos wasn’t his only contact with Trump campaign members. The 73-year-old professor, a veteran of three Republican administrations, met with two other campaign advisers, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned. -Daily Caller

These contacts are notable, as Halper’s infiltration of the Trump campaign corresponds with the two of the four targets of the FBI’s Operation Crossfire Hurricane – in which the agency sent counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and others to a London meeting in the Summer of 2016 with former Australian diplomat Alexander Downer – who says Papadopoulos drunkenly admitted to knowing that the Russians had Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Interestingly Downer – the source of the Papadopoulos intel, and Halper – who conned Papadopoulos months later, are linked through UK-based Haklyut & Co. an opposition research and intelligence firm – founded by three former British intelligence operatives in 1995 to provide the kind of otherwise inaccessible research for which select governments and Fortune 500 corporations pay huge sums.

Downer – a good friend of the Clintons, has been on their advisory board for a decade, while Halper is connected to Hakluyt through Director of U.S. operations Jonathan Clarke, with whom he has co-authored two books. (h/t themarketswork.com)

Alexander Downer, the Australian High Commissioner to the U.K. Downer said that in May 2016, Papadopoulos told him during a conversation in London about Russians having Clinton emails.

That information was passed to other Australian government officials before making its way to U.S. officials. FBI agents flew to London a day after “Crossfire Hurricane” started in order to interview Downer.

It is still not known what Downer says about his interaction with Papadopoulos, which TheDCNF is told occurred around May 10, 2016.

Also interesting via Lifezette – “Downer is not the only Clinton fan in Hakluyt. Federal contribution records show several of the firm’s U.S. representatives made large contributions to two of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign organizations.”

Halper contacted Papadopoulos on September 2, 2016 according to The Caller – flying him out to London to work on a policy paper on energy issues in Turkey, Cyprus and Israel – for which he was ultimately paid $3,000. Papadopoulos met Halper several times during his stay, “having dinner one night at the Travellers Club, and Old London gentleman’s club frequented by international diplomats.”

They were accompanied by Halper’s assistant, a Turkish woman named Azra Turk. Sources familiar with Papadopoulos’s claims about his trip say Turk flirted with him during their encounters and later on in email exchanges.

…

Emails were also brought up during Papadopoulos’s meetings with Halper, though not by the Trump associate, according to sources familiar with his version of events. The sources say that during conversation, Halper randomly brought up Russians and emails. Papadopoulos has told people close to him that he grew suspicious of Halper because of the remark. -Daily Caller

Meanwhile, Halper targeted Carter Page two days after Page returned from a trip to Moscow.

Page’s visit to Moscow, where he spoke at the New Economic School on July 8, 2016, is said to have piqued the FBI’s interest even further. Page and Halper spoke on the sidelines of an election-themed symposium held at Cambridge days later. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6 and a close colleague of Halper’s, spoke at the event.

…

Page would enter the media spotlight in September 2016 after Yahoo! News reported that the FBI was investigating whether he met with two Kremlin insiders during that Moscow trip.

It would later be revealed that the Yahoo! article was based on unverified information from Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier regarding the Trump campaign. Steele’s report, which was funded by Democrats, also claimed Page worked with Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on the collusion conspiracy. -Daily Caller

A third target of Halper’s was Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis, whose name was revealed by the Washington Post on Friday.

In late August 2016, the professor reached out to Clovis, asking if they could meet somewhere in the Washington area, according to Clovis’s attorney, Victoria Toensing.

“He said he wanted to be helpful to the campaign” and lend the Trump team his foreign-policy experience, Toensing said.

Clovis, an Iowa political figure and former Air Force officer, met the source and chatted briefly with him over coffee, on either Aug. 31 or Sept. 1, at a hotel cafe in Crystal City, she said. Most of the discussion involved him asking Clovis his views on China.

“It was two academics discussing China,” Toensing said. “Russia never came up.” -WaPo

Who is Stefan Halper?

After attending Stanford and Oxford, Halper worked for the Nixon administration, where he ended up in the Office of Management and Budget as an Assistant Director, then moved to the Chief of Staff’s office in the Carter White House from 1974-1977.

The_War_Economy@The_War_Economy

26 Mar

Replying to @The_War_Economy

Halper was then moved from the Office of Management and Budget to join the office of the Chief of Staff, working as the Assistant to the Chief of Staff. This was a position he held from 1974 to January 20, 1977.https://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/stefan-halper … pic.twitter.com/V1moEnFMRs

The_War_Economy@The_War_Economy

As such, Halper worked as an assistant to three Chiefs of Staff - Alexander Haig (until September 21, 1974), then Donald Rumsfeld (from September 21, 1974 to November 20, 1975), and then Dick Cheney (from November 20, 1975 to January 20, 1977). pic.twitter.com/cDqq0nO7k8

7:26 AM - Mar 26, 2018

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Halper was involved in US politics at the highest levels for decades, becoming George H.W. Bush’s National Director for Policy Development during his presidential campaign. After Bush lost to Reagan, Halper worked as Reagan’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State – where he served under three different Secretaries.

He then became a senior advisor to the Department of Defense and DOJ between 1984 and 2001. Halper’s former father-in-law was Ray Cline, former Deputy Director of the CIA. He also allegedly spied on the Carter administration – collecting information on foreign policy (an account disputed by Ray Cline).

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The_War_Economy@The_War_Economy

Replying to @The_War_Economy

Apparently Halper and his team of Central Intelligence Agency people during the Reagan / Bush ticket actually collected inside information on the Carter Administration's foreign policy - with Halper in charge - although Ray Cline rejected this account.https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/07/us/reagan-aides-describe-operation-to-gather-inside-data-on-carter.html …

8:51 AM - Mar 26, 2018

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As one can clearly see, Halper has been around the block a few times.

We can’t imagine he thought his legacy would be cast as the man who infiltrated the Trump campaign in what is shaping up to be the largest political corruption scandal in the history of the United States, which of course would have been swept under the rug had Hillary simply won the election as all the “experts” predicted.

Medical Disclaimer

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Confirmed: FBI Was Spying on the Trump Campaign - The FBI Spied on Donald Trump: Legacy Media Runs Massive Damage Control - FBI SPY-OP EXPOSED: TRUMP CAMPAIGN INFILTRATED BY LONGTIME CIA/MI6 ASSET

FBI SPY-OP EXPOSED: TRUMP CAMPAIGN INFILTRATED BY LONGTIME CIA/MI6 ASSET

Roger Stone, Infowars outed Halper a week ago