By The Editorial Board

May 22, 2018 6:59 p.m. ET

6 COMMENTS

Multiple media sources have now confirmed that American academic Stefan Halper is the “top secret” informant the FBI asked to sidle up to Trump campaign officials in 2016. Some questions follow: Who asked Mr. Halper to keep tabs on the Trump officials, and when and why?

The answers go to the credibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s claim that it didn’t open an official counterintelligence probe into Trump-Russia collusion until July 31, 2016. The answers might also show if Obama Administration officials knew about this mission, or if political actors working for the Clinton campaign such as Fusion GPS played a role.

One mystery concerns Mr. Halper’s interaction with Trump aide Carter Page. The New York Times reported on Friday that Mr. Halper’s contact with Trump officials happened only after the July 31 launch of the probe. The story notes that Mr. Halper reached out to campaign adviser George Papadopoulos “late that summer” and then to Mr. Page “in the ensuing months.” A Washington Post story adds that Mr. Halper sat down with Trump official Sam Clovis on either “August 31 or Sept. 1.”

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But Mr. Page tells us he actually met Mr. Halper in mid-July, at a symposium at England’s University of Cambridge, where Mr. Halper is an emeritus professor. Mr. Page says the invitation to that event came much earlier—the end of May or early June. Mr. Page declined to say who invited him but says it was someone other than Mr. Halper.

Mr. Halper had a central role in the symposium. The event was hosted by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), a Cambridge research institute. And the official organizer was another American academic and alumnus of Republican administrations named Steven Schrage. In a Facebook post at the time, Mr. Schrage explained that the event was supported by Cambridge’s Department of Politics and International Studies—Mr. Halper’s department. CRASSH and Mr. Halper’s department share a building where the symposium took place.

The event was titled “2016’s Race to Change the World,” and headlined the dueling perspectives of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former GOP Congressman Vin Weber. According to the program, Mr. Halper kicked off the opening session on July 11. Mr. Page confirms he met Mr. Halper for the first time at the symposium.

Another noteworthy participant was Sir Richard Dearlove. Sir Richard, a Cambridge alumnus, spent a near-40-year career at the British intelligence service, MI6, rising to its chief from 1999 to 2004. As such he overlapped with anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, who was recruited by MI6 after graduating from Cambridge in the late 1980s, and who later ran the Russia desk. Sir Richard told the Washington Post in February that Mr. Steele’s reputation was “superb.”

Sir Richard is also friendly with Mr. Halper. The two men were part of a small group that ran the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, an academic forum for researchers and one-time practitioners of spycraft. At least one of these sessions in 2014 featured eventual Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The duo made headlines in the United Kingdom in 2016 when they resigned from the organization, which Mr. Halper told the Financial Times was due to “unacceptable Russian influence on the group.”

For the record, Mr. Page says he had never interacted with the CRASSH program at Cambridge before that early summer 2016 invitation. And while he did not speak at the event, he says the organizers paid his round-trip airfare from New York.

Perhaps all of this is a crazy coincidence, but House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes is right to investigate. President Trump on Monday tasked Chief of Staff John Kelly with ensuring that Justice Department officials let congressional leaders review “classified and other information they have requested.” There’s no excuse for refusing to cooperate.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3984613&forum_id=2#36112020)

Watch the Clapper vids and interviews on this point. The dude is compulsively dishonest.

Comey, who wrote a book about honesty and integrity, also lied to the President's face, claiming he wasn't being investigated. He then scurried off to write secret memos about his conversations (because he was in fact investigating the President), which he intentionally leaked.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3984613&forum_id=2#36112263)

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8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign

BY SHARYL ATTKISSON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 05/23/18 11:15 AM EDT 2,291 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

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It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)

But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.

Here are eight signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump for political reasons.

Code name

The operation reportedly had at least one code name that was leaked to the New York Times: “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Wiretap fever

Secret surveillance was conducted on no fewer than seven Trump associates: chief strategist Steve Bannon; lawyer Michael Cohen; national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner; campaign manager Paul Manafort; and campaign foreign-policy advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

The FBI reportedly applied for a secret warrant in June 2016 to monitor Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos and Flynn. If true, it means the FBI targeted Flynn six months before his much-debated conversation with Russia’s ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.

The FBI applied four times to wiretap Page after he became a Trump campaign adviser starting in July 2016. Page’s office is connected to Trump Tower and he reports having spent “many hours in Trump Tower.”

CNN reported that Manafort was wiretapped before and after the election “including during a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Trump.” Manafort reportedly has a residence in Trump Tower.

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Electronic surveillance was used to listen in on three Trump transition officials in Trump Tower — Flynn, Bannon and Kushner — as they met in an official capacity with the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince.

The FBI also reportedly wiretapped Flynn’s phone conversation with Amb. Kislyak on Dec. 31, 2016, as part of “routine surveillance” of Kislyak.

NBC recently reported that Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, was wiretapped. NBC later corrected the story, saying Cohen was the subject of a “pen register” used to monitor phone numbers and, possibly, internet communications.

National security letters

Another controversial tool reportedly used by the FBI to obtain phone records and other documents in the investigation were national security letters, which bypass judicial approval.

Improper use of such letters has been an ongoing theme at the FBI. Reviews by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found widespread misuse under Special Counsel Mueller — who was then FBI director — and said officials failed to report instances of abuses as required.

Unmasking

“Unmasking” — identifying protected names of Americans captured by government surveillance — was frequently deployed by at least four top Obama officials who have subsequently spoken out against President Trump: James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence (DNI); Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Susan Rice, national security adviser; Sally Yates, deputy attorney general.

Names of Americans caught communicating with monitored foreign targets must be “masked,” or hidden within government agencies, so the names cannot be misused or shared.

However, it’s been revealed that former Ambassador Power made near-daily unmasking requests during 2016.

Prior to that revelation, former DNI Clapper claimed ignorance. When asked if he knew of unmasking requests by any ambassador, including Power, he testified: “I don't know. Maybe it's ringing a vague bell but I'm not — I could not answer with any confidence.”

Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, admitted asking for unmasked names of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports after initially claiming no knowledge of any such thing.

Clapper also admitted requesting the unmasking of “Mr. Trump, his associates or any members of Congress.” Clapper and ex-Deputy AG Yates admitted they also personally reviewed unmasked documents and shared unmasked material with other officials.

Changing the rules

On Dec. 15, 2016 — the same day the government listened in on Trump officials at Trump Tower — then-national security adviser Rice reportedly unmasked the names of Bannon, Kushner and Flynn. And Clapper made a new rule allowing the National Security Agency to widely disseminate surveillance material within the government without the normal privacy protections.

Media strategy

Former CIA Director John Brennan and former DNI Clapper, two of the most integral intel officials in this ongoing controversy, have joined national news organizations where they have regular opportunities to shape the news narrative — including on the very issues under investigation.

Clapper reportedly secretly leaked salacious political opposition research against Trump to CNN in fall 2017 and later was hired as a CNN political analyst. In February, Brennan was hired as a paid analyst for MSNBC.

Leaks

There’s been a steady and apparently orchestrated campaign of leaks — some true, some false, but nearly all of them damaging to President Trump’s interests.

A few of the notable leaks include word that Flynn was wiretapped, the anti-Trump “Steele dossier” of political opposition research, then-FBI Director James Comey briefing Trump on it, private Comey conversations with Trump, Comey’s memos recording those conversations and criticizing Trump, the subpoena of Trump’s personal bank records (which proved false), and Flynn planning to testify against Trump (which also proved to be false).

Friends, informants and snoops

The FBI reportedly used one-time CIA operative Stefan Halper in 2016 as an informant to spy on Trump officials.

Another player is Comey friend Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor, who leaked Comey’s memos against Trump to the New York Times after Comey was fired. We later learned that Richman actually worked for the FBI under a status called “Special Government Employee.”

The FBI utilized former reporter Glenn Simpson, his political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and ex-British spy Christopher Steele to compile allegations against Trump, largely from Russian sources, which were distributed to the press and used as part of wiretap applications.

These eight features of a counterintelligence operation are only the pieces we know. It can be assumed there’s much we don’t yet know. And it may help explain why there’s so much material that the Department of Justice hasn’t easily handed over to congressional investigators.

Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) is an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, author of The New York Times bestsellers “The Smear” and “Stonewalled,” and host of Sinclair’s Sunday TV program, “Full Measure.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3984613&forum_id=2#36112619)

Changing the rules

On Dec. 15, 2016 — the same day the government listened in on Trump officials at Trump Tower — then-national security adviser Rice reportedly unmasked the names of Bannon, Kushner and Flynn. And Clapper made a new rule allowing the National Security Agency to widely disseminate surveillance material within the government without the normal privacy protections.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3984613&forum_id=2#36112751)