Spygate, Part #11: Stefan Halper
For a series about Spygate, it may be good to discuss the actual “Spy” in the story: Stefan “Walrus” Halper.
“Spies are a Cambridge tradition. We’ve produced more of them than any other British university.” — Christopher Andrew
In 1967, Halper received a Bachelor of Arts with high honours from Stanford University. After this, Halper started to study at the University at Oxford, where he studied with Bill Clinton. This was at the same time that Clinton became friends with Strobe Talbott, the future brother-in-law of Cody Shearer.
A few years later, in 1971, Halper received a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Shortly after this, Halper was employed at the White House Domestic Council, a position he remained in until 1973, as he transferred to the Office of Management and Budget as Assistant Director of the Management and Evaluation Division until 1974.
With the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the installation of President Gerald Ford, Halper became the Assistant to the Chief of Staff, a position held until January 20, 1977. The three Chiefs of Staff he worked under were Alexander Haig, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
As President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated, he announced that he would not hire any Chiefs of Staff, which led to Halper gaining new employment as a legislative assistant for Senator William Roth of Delaware from 1977 to 1979. In this role, Halper also became Special Counsel to the Joint Economic Committee.
In 1979, Halper left both positions to join the Presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush as the National Director for Policy Development and Research, on the recommendation of his father-in-law, Ray Cline, who was the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Halper had married Ray’s daughter, Sibyl Cline (now MacKenzie).
One year later, in 1980, at the Republican National Convention, Richard V. Allen — then Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy adviser for his campaign — searched for a potential Vice President for Reagan, and discussed with Halper about the potential of H. W. Bush filling the position.
After H. W. Bush agreed to become Reagan’s running mate, Halper’s role changed, as he became the Director of Policy Coordination for the Reagan-Bush campaign after the recommendation of both David R. Gergen and James A. Baker III, which he worked on with Robert Gambino, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency. Halper also worked with other Central Intelligence Agency veterans including Ray Cline, Sam Wilson, Howard Aaron, Henry Knoche, Bruce Rounds, Jon Thomas, Jack Coackley and Richard Stillwell.
As a result of this, Halper led an operation to collect inside information on the Carter Administration’s foreign policy, which was held in the campaign headquarters of Reagan. Halper worked with the various officials from the Central Intelligence Agency for the operation.
On November 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States.
At some point in 1980, Halper had a conversation with Harvey D. McLean, Jr., where they discussed the potential to develop a banking institute together.
In 1981, Halper’s role changed again, as he became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the United States Department of State, a position he held until 1984. As such, Halper served under Secretary Alexander Haig, Secretary Walter J. Stoessel, Jr. and Secretary George P. Schultz.
During his time as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, in 1982, Halper helped organise Palmer National Bank, which opened in July 1983. To help with the opening of the bank, McLean Jr. received a $2.8 million loan from Herman K. Beebe, a Texas real estate mogul.
Halper, when he left in 1984, then became the chairman of Palmer National Bank, while McLean Jr. became the vice chairman. Around the same time, Halper also became a shareholder in the National Bank of Northern Virginia and the George Washington National Bank.
Palmer National Bank would later make loans to customers, who then used Palmer National Bank to channel funds to a Swiss bank account controlled by Colonel Oliver North, who then redirected the funds to provide military assistance to the Contras.
Also in 1983, Halper was on the board of directors at the National Intelligence Security Center, alongside Ray Cline.
In the same year, now out of government, Halper became a senior adviser to two different departments of the United States Government — the United States Department of Defense, and the United States Department of Justice, both positions which lasted until 2001.
In 1986, Halper started to write a weekly syndicated column across 30 newspapers, and hosted a television program known as “World Wise”, which was on NET Television. Halper also hosted the radio program “This Week From Washington”, which lasted until 2000.
On July 11, 1994, the United States vs. Halper was filed at the Eastern District of Virginia, for counts of possession of crack cocaine, failure to company with a traffic control device, and for operating after suspension. The case was terminated on February 17, 1995, and the case file itself (1:94-po-00199–1) was then destroyed.
In 1996, Richard Dearlove and Professor Christopher Andrew became friends.
In August 1999, Dearlove became the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, a position he held until his retirement in July 2004.
At some stage, Halper became an informant for the Central Intelligence Agency, where he passed on information to them.
“The informant is well known in Washington circles, having served in previous Republican administrations and as a source of information for the C.I.A. in past years, according to one person familiar with the source’s work.” — The New York Times
In 2001, Halper became a professor at Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), where he taught international affairs and American studies.
In 2004, Halper and Jonathan Clarke published “America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order” for the Cambridge University Press, where they acknowledged numerous people in their assistance of the publication, including Max Boot, James Mayall, Philip Towle and Dr. Charles Jones. On June 30, Halper and Clarke discussed their book at the Foreign Policy Association. Clarke himself is a former United States representative for Hakluyt & Co..
After the formation of Orbis Business Intelligence by Christopher Steele and Christopher Burrows in 2009, Dearlove continued to seek out their expertise.
On October 15, 2010, Halper attended the 5th William Pitt Seminar, which was also attended by Alexander Downer, then on the advisory board at Hakluyt & Co., a position he held from May 2008 to 2014.
Between October 7 — November 25, 2011, the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar was hosted for the Michaelmas term by Chris Andrew, Peter Martland, Sir Dearlove and Halper. Halper, at the time, had finished a survey of game options in Afghanistan for Secretary Robert Gates.A number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents from New York visited on November 11, 2011, where they discussed the Illegals Program, also known as Operation Ghost Stories.
In December 2011, Halper was listed as part of the editorial board of of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.
On January 1, 2012, James Mayall and Ricardo Soares De Oliviera released the book “The New Protectorates: International Tutelage and the Making of Liberal States”, which featured an interview with Halper.
On February 28, 2012, Halper, Greg Austin, Mark Fitzpatrick, Graham Hutchings and Lord Williams of Baglan participated in a panel titled “US Security Partnerships in the Asia-Pacific Region” at Chatham House in London. The next day, February 29, Halper, Jon Sopel, Stephan Shakespeare, Bonnie Greer and Matthew Jamison participated in the panel “The US elections so far, and what they mean for British interests”.
On May 1, 2012, Halper and Dr. Joel Rogers de Waal published the article “State capitalists beware” in YouGov UK. At the end of the month, May 30, Halper was hired for his first contract with the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment, for a total of $197,626.00.
During these contracts, the monies did not go to Halper solely, as he often hired academics and experts to assist with the research. On May 29, 2013, Halper’s first contract with the Office of Net Assessment came to an end.
“‘Kerry is a deeply experienced foreign policy strategist and actor so none of this is either surprising or new to him and he is well known to the principal figures and foreign policy circles in Europe,’ said Stefan Halper, director of American Studies in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Asked about the Falklands, where Kerry repeated Washington’s position that it recognizes Britain’s de facto administration but takes no stance on its sovereignty, Halper said: ‘He comes on the heels of an elegant Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who was loved by everyone so these are big shoes to fill.’” — Reuters
In October and November 2013, the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar was hosted again for the Michelmas term by Chris Andrew, Peter Martland, Halper, Sir Dearlove and Daniel Larsen, which featured attendees such as Dr. Lezlee Halper and Svetlana Lokhova. Hayden Peake of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Centre For the Study of Intelligence also visited on October 18, 2013.
In 2014, Halper and his wife, Lezlee Brown Halper, released the book “Tibet: An Unfinished Story”.
In February 2014, the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar was hosted, organised by Sir Dearlove, which was attended by Halper, Svetlana Lokhova, Dan O’Brien, Neil Kent, Christopher Andrew and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, where Lt. Gen. Flynn and Lokhova had a 20 minute conversation, during which she showed a 1912 erotic postcard sent by Joseph Stalin. Lt. Gen. Flynn and his assistant then provided their e-mails to Lokhova. This conversation was then reported to American intelligence by Halper as potential Russian compromise — even though, as noted before, Lokhova had attended the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar a few months prior.
“According to people familiar with Mr. Flynn’s visit to the intelligence seminar, the source was alarmed by the general’s apparent closeness with a Russian woman who was also in attendance. The concern was strong enough that it prompted another person to pass on a warning to the American authorities that Mr. Flynn could be compromised by Russian intelligence, according to two people familiar with the matter.” — The New York Times
Around this time, Sir Dearlove was in the process of founding the Cambridge Security Initiative, which would later be chaired by Halper, Peter Martland and Dr. Alan Dawson. Members on the advisory board included (as of March 2019) Professor Michael Goodman, Professor Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield, Professor Sir David Omand, Lord Wilson of Dinton, Sir Iain Lobban (who is on the advisory board of Holdingham Group Limited, which controls Hakluyt & Co.) and Dr. Paul Martin. It was eventually registered as a charity in October 2017.
The next month, in March 2014, Halper visited the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force Staff College. He would visit the college again on October 1, 2014.
On July 29, 2014, Halper received another contract from the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment for a total of $204,000.00.
In January 2015 (and most likely earlier), Sir Dearlove was Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Cambridge Union Society, where he discussed the celebration of the Cambridge Union Society’s bicentenary — an event that Christopher Steele would later attend.
On March 28, 2015, the Cambridge Security Initiative would officially be founded.
On July 31, 2015, Halper’s contract with the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment came to an end.
On August 21, 2015, Gordon Corera published the article “Cedric Belfrage, the WW2 spy Britain was embarrassed to pursue” in BBC News, which featured interviews with both Professor Andrew and Lokhova. Lokhova then forwarded the link of the news article to Lt. Gen. Flynn.
Two months later, on September 24, 2015, Halper was rehired for another contract with the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment, for a contract worth $244,960.00.
In roughly October 2015, Halper retired from his position at Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies, as he took the honorary title of emeritus senior fellow of the Centre of International Studies instead.
On December 7, 2015, Halper participated on a round table with Peter Navarro and Toshi Yoshihara at CNAS’s Asia-Pacific Security Program, where they discussed Navarro’s book, “Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World”.
In May 2016, Cambridge University sent an e-mail invitation to Stephen Miller, where they invited him to attend the Race to Change the World Symposium in July 2016. Miller then forwarded the e-mail to John Mashburn, who then passed it over to J.D. Gordon.
In June 2016, Carter Page was invited to the Race to Change the World Symposium at Cambridge University via e-mail by a doctoral candidate.
On July 7, 2016, Page travelled to Russia, where he gave a speech titled “The Evolution of the World Economy: Trends and Potential” about the United States’ foreign policy toward Russia at World Trade Center Moscow, which had been arranged by the New Economic School. During this trip, Page met with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
On July 11, 2016, the Race to Change the World Symposium was hosted at Cambridge University’s Centre For Research In the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, where a number of speakers included Sir Dearlove, Madeleine Albright, Vin Weber, Bridget Kendall, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Baroness Julie Smith, Dr. Nigel Bowles, Peter Hill, John Bew, Simon Goldhill, David Runciman, James Rubin and Ambassador Peter Ammon. The symposium itself lasted until July 12.
Note that James Rubin is a former Assistant Secretary of State For Public Affairs in the White House during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, and the now ex-husband of Chrisitane Amanpour of CNN.
During the symposium on the first day, Halper — one of the speakers at the event— met with another attendee, Carter Page on the sidelines of the event. During their conversation, Halper mentioned that he knew Paul Manafort.
“Days after Carter Page’s high-profile trip to Moscow in July 2016, the Trump campaign adviser had his first encounter with Stefan Halper, a University of Cambridge professor with CIA and MI6 contacts.
The conversation seemed innocent enough, Page tells The Daily Caller News Foundation. He recalls nothing of substance being discussed other than Halper’s passing mention that he knew then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. But the interaction was one of many that the pair would have over the next 14 months, through a period of time when Page was under the watchful eye of the U.S. government.
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.” — The Daily Caller
On July 16, 2016, Page sent an e-mail to Clovis, where he discussed a potential meeting with Halper in Falls Church, VA.
On July 31, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation officially opened the investigation into the Trump campaign, titled “Crossfire Hurricane”, with three of the focuses being George Papadopoulos, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Carter Page.
In early fall 2016, Sir Dearlove met with both Christopher Steele and Christopher Burrows at the Garrick Club in London, where Sir Dearlove advised both of them to work with a top British government official to pass their information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“In the early fall, he and Burrows turned to Dearlove, their former MI6 boss, for advice. Sitting in winged chairs at the Garrick Club, one of London’s most venerable private establishments, under oil paintings of famed British playwrights, the two men shared their worries about what was happening in the United States. They asked for his guidance about how to handle their obligations to their client and the public, Dearlove recalled.
Dearlove said their situation reminded him of a predicament he had faced years earlier, when he was chief of station for British intelligence in Washington and alerted U.S. authorities to British information that a vice presidential hopeful had once been in communication with the Kremlin.
He said he advised Steele and Burrows to work discreetly with a top British government official to pass along information to the FBI.
At the time of the meeting, Dearlove said he did not know whether Steele had approached the FBI.” — The Washington Post
Also in the fall, Adam Lovinger complained to his superiors, which included Jim Baker, about the contracts passed to Stefan Halper at the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment. Lovinger then sent e-mails about the Office of Net Assessment refusing to publish information about radical Islam, China and Iran.
In August 2016, the Crossfire Hurricane team discussed methods to send Halper to meet with various members of the Trump campaign as part of their federal investigation. However, the same month, Carter Page left the Trump campaign.
“After opening the Russia inquiry about a month later, they took steps, those officials said, to ensure that details of the inquiry were more closely held than even in a typical national security investigation, including the use of the informant to suss out information from the unsuspecting targets. Sending F.B.I. agents to interview them could have created additional risk that the investigation’s existence would seep into view in the final weeks of a heated presidential race.” — The New York Times
On August 29, 2016, Halper sent an e-mail to Sam Clovis, where he requested to meet with him.
In September 2016, Lovinger sent an e-mail to James Baker about the issue surrounding the Office of Net Assessment’s contracts.
On September 1, 2016, Halper and Clovis met each other at the Doubletree Inn in Crystal City, VA, where they discussed China.
On September 2, 2016, Halper sent an e-mail to George Papadopoulos, where he offered $3,000.00 for Papadopoulos to author a policy paper regarding Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and the Leviathan natural gas field, and offered an expenses-paid 3 day trip to London, which Papadopoulos accepted. Halper claimed he was leading a project examining relations between the European Union and Turkey.
“‘Please pardon my sudden intrusion just before the Labor Day weekend,’ the professor wrote to Papadopoulos in a message described to The Post.” — The Washington Post
“‘I understand that this is rather sudden but thought that given your expertise it might be of interest to you,’ the informant wrote in a message to Mr. Papadopoulos, sent on Sept. 2, 2016.” — The New York Times
On September 13, 2016, Halper and Papadopoulos met each other at the Connaught Hotel. During Halper and Papadopoulos’s face-to-face meeting in London, Halper asked if Papadopoulos had heard about the hacking of e-mails by Russia, which Papadopoulos denied.
Two days later, on September 15, 2016, Halper and Papadopoulos met again at the Travellers Club, which was also attended by Halper’s assistant, Azra Turk. Once again, Halper raised the question about the Clinton e-mails and Russia, and Papadopoulos denied knowledge. Turk later contacted Papadopoulos to thank him for the meeting.
On September 20, 2016, Professor Andrew resigned from the Cambridge Security Initiative.
Towards the end of the month, on September 26, 2016, Halper was hired for a contract again by the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment, for a contract worth $411,575.00, while the next day, September 27, Halper’s previous contract expired.
In October 2016, Lovinger sent an e-mail to his superiors about concerns regarding Halper’s contracts with the Washington Headquarter Services, the director of which is Barbara Westgate, appointed on April 18, 2016.
On October 2, 2016, Papadopoulos sent an electronic copy of the Project Leviathan policy paper to Halper. Halper then responded with confirmation of receipt and payment to his account.
“After Papadopoulos returned to the United States and sent his research document, the professor responded: ‘Enjoyed your paper. Just what we wanted. $3,000 wired to your account. Pls confirm receipt.’” — The Washington Post
Before October 4, 2016, Halper, Sir Dearlove and Peter Martland resigned from their positions at the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar due to alleged Russian infiltration by the organisation Veruscript, as they had discovered it was indirectly funded by Andrey Cheglakov, which was a sponsorship of under £2,000.00.
The resignations, and the reasoning behind them, were viewed with absurdity by Professor Andrew, as Veruscript was established by Gleb Cheglakov, a friend of Neil Kent from Cambridge University and the son of Andrey, and Cheglakov’s wife, Nazik Ibrimova, who both run AGC Partners.
“Sir Richard Dearlove, the ex-chief of the Secret Intelligence Service and former master of Pembroke college, Stefan Halper, a senior foreign policy adviser at the White House to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and Peter Martland, a leading espionage historian, have resigned as conveners of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar — an academic forum for former practitioners and current researchers of western spycraft — because of concerns over what they fear could be a Kremlin-backed operation to compromise the group.
Mr Halper said he had stepped down due to ‘unacceptable Russian influence on the group’.”
“The three stepped down as conveners before the start of the Michaelmas term. Sir Richard confirmed his resignation as convener but declined to comment further. Mr Martland did not respond to a request for comment.”— Financial Times
On October 21, 2016, Halper attended and spoke at the China Forum in Washington, DC, with another speakers being Seth Cropsey, a former employee at the United States Department of Defense with his own ties to George Papadopoulos and his own personal animus towards Trump.
On the same day, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved of a secret surveillance order to monitor Carter Page, with some of the justification based on the Steele dossier. It was signed off by Director James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and Judge Rosemary Collyer.
On October 25, 2016, Howard LaFranchi published the article “Amid worries of declining US influence, a bright silver lining” in The Christian Science Monitor, which featured a quote from Halper.
On November 3, 2016, Halper was interviewed by Sputnik News, where he said that Hillary Clinton would be a better President in terms of relations between the United States and the United Kingdom rather than Donald Trump.
On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump won the election to become the next President of the United States, and his transition team officially went to work.
During this time, Navarro suggested a series of people for the position of multiple ambassadorships in Asia, one of whom was Halper.
Starting in December 2016, Halper began to reach out to various mainstream media outlets as an anonymous source.
On December 16, 2016, Sam Jones published the article “Intelligence experts accuse Cambridge forum of Kremlin links” in Financial Times, where Halper was quoted directly about the situation surrounding the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar.
A few days later, on December 21, 2016, the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar cut off ties with Veruscript. Around this time, Professor Kent also resigned from the seminar. Two days later, on December 23, Veruscript announced it would cease publication of the Journal of Intelligence and Terrorism Studies, with its editorial and advisory boards set to resign.
In January 2017, Lovinger pushed to try and become an employee as a member of the national security staff of the Trump White House, but he was confronted by Baker about security violations soon after.
At the same time, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation discussed Lt. Gen. Flynn’s meeting with Lokhova from February 2014 during their consideration over whether he would be suitable for the position of National Security Adviser.
“Multiple sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the CIA and the FBI were discussing this episode, along with many others, as they assessed Flynn’s suitability to serve as national security adviser.” — The Guardian
Between January 24–27, 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation submitted a renewal application for Carter Page’s October 2016 FISA to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This was signed off by Director Comey, Acting Attorney General Yates and Judge Michael Mosman.
Between February and March 2017, reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal each approached Lokhova with questions about her interactions with Lt. Gen. Flynn from February 2014. The Washington Post and The New York Times ultimately decided against publishing their stories.
On February 19, 2017, Christopher Andrew published the article “Impulsive General Misha shoots himself in the foot” in The Times of London, which discussed Lt. Gen. Flynn’s dismissal from the Trump Administration and his visit to the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar in February 2014, and suggested that Lokhova showed Lt. Gen. Flynn an erotic postcard sent by Joseph Stalin in 1912.
On March 18, 2017, Carol E. Lee, Rob Barry, Shane Harris and Christopher S. Stewart published the article “Mike Flynn Didn’t Report 2014 Interaction With Russian-British National” in The Wall Street Journal, an article which used Halper as a source.
“Two people who attended the Cambridge dinner and are associated with the event said that Ms. Lokhova approached Mr. Flynn at the start and that the two sat next to each other.” — The Wall Street Journal
After March 2017, Halper stopped interacting with the mainstream media as an anonymous source.
“‘FBI confidential informant’ Halper invented a false story which he passed on to official channels & Press, in full knowledge his personal attack was going to cause me, an innocent party, enormous harm. Is branding me a whore and a traitor OK? Does the end justifies the means?” — Svetlana Lokhova
On March 31, 2017, Luke Harding, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Nick Hopkins published the article “Michael Flynn: new evidence spy chiefs had concerns about Russian ties” in The Guardian, where they heard through multiple sources that American intelligence viewed Lt. Gen. Flynn’s meeting with Lokhova back in February 2014 with caution.
In April 2017, the third renewal on Carter Page’s FISA was signed off, with signatures from Director Comey, Acting Attorney General Dana Boente and Judge Anne Conway.
On April 11, 2017, Ellen Nakashima, Devlin Barrett and Adam Entous published the article “FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page” in The Washington Post.
On April 14, 2017, Sir Dearlove was interviewed by Prospect Magazine, where he claimed that President Trump had borrowed funds from Russia during the 2008 United States financial crisis.
“The former head of MI6 has said Donald Trump borrowed money from Russia for his business during the 2008 financial crisis.
Richard Dearlove told Prospect Magazine that ‘what lingers for Trump may be what deals — on what terms — he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money’ when other banks and lenders would not risk the money, given Mr Trump’s history of bankruptcy.
Mr Dearlove alleged the money was used by Mr Trump to prop up his real estate empire, which was hit hard by the financial crisis. It is not illegal to borrow money from Russian entities but Mr Dearlove, who left government in 2004, did not provide any evidence to support his claim in the interview.” — Prospect Magazine
On April 28, 2017, Luke Harding of The Guardian visited the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, convened at that time by Professor Andrew, Sir Dearlove, Dan Larsen, Frederic Ischebeck-Baum and Simon Brockebank-Fowler, where he discussed the murder of Alexander Litvinenko — who himself had previously visited the Seminar before his death in 2010.
On May 1, 2017, Lovinger’s security clearance was revoked by the United States Department of Defense. Lovinger himself was informed by Barbara Westgate, which was approved by Kevin Sweeney.
On May 12, 2017, Lokhova was interviewed by Gordon Corera of BBC News, where she denied she was an agent of the Kremlin and denied that she was a ‘honey pot’.
On May 18, 2017, Halper was interviewed by BBC Radio 4, where he discussed the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to the multiple investigations opened by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
However, at the same time, Halper provided information in relation to the Russia investigation to Team Mueller.
“For years, the professor has provided information to the FBI and the CIA, according to people familiar with the matter. He aided the Russia investigation both before and after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s appointment in May 2017, according to people with knowledge of his activities.” — The Washington Post
In June 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation filed the final renewal application to monitor Carter Page’s communications with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
On June 6, 2017, Halper was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 again on “The World Tonight”, this time to discuss the future of the United Kingdom while on a panel at Chatham House.
On June 29, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed off on the final renewal of the FISA on Carter Page, with other signatures from Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Judge Raymond Dearie.
On July 28, 2017, Halper sent an e-mail to Carter Page, where he discussed the Russia investigation seemingly shifting from collusion to the people within the White House, and Anthony Scaramucci. In the e-mail, he referred to himself as “Stef”.
In August 2017, Halper visited the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he attended a meeting to discuss China.
In September 2017, Page and Halper fell out of contact, as they exchanged final e-mails with each other. At the same time, the third renewal of the FISA expired, although the Federal Bureau of Investigation put in another renewal request at the time.
“In June 2017, a month after Mueller’s appointment, the FBI filed yet another application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to continue tracking Carter Page. The application was 77 pages long.
A fourth — and final — application was filed three months later.” — ABC News
On March 25, 2018, Chuck Ross published the article “EXCLUSIVE: A London Meeting Before the Election Aroused George Papadopoulos’s Suspicions” in The Daily Caller.
On March 28, 2018, Halper’s fourth contract with the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment came to an end.
On May 2, 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and various other national security officials discussed with John Kelly that the reveal of Halper’s identity could potentially endanger him. President Trump and Kelly both agreed to hold back on confirmation.
On May 3, 2018, Stephen Boyd, on behalf of the United States Department of Justice, sent a letter to Representative Devin Nunes, where he expressed his concern about the potential confirmation of Halper’s identity.
On May 7, 2018, Representative Nunes informed reporters that he did not trust the United States Department of Justice’s reasoning for refusing to confirm Halper’s identity.
Between May 7–18, 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reviewed live investigations which had featured Halper’s work to prepare for his identity reveal.
On May 18, 2018, Adam Goldman, Mark Mazzetti and Matthew Rosenberg published the article “F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims” in The New York Times.
On the same day, Robert Costa, Carol D. Leonning, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett — with contributions from Alice Crites, Shane Harris, Rosalind S. Helderman, Ellen Nakashima and Matt Zapotosky — published the article “Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign” in The Washington Post. At the time of publishing, American intelligence officials warned The Washington Post not to publish Halper’s name.
And, for some reason, Asha Rangappa published the article “The FBI didn’t use an informant to go after Trump. They used one to protect him.” in The Washington Post.
On May 24, 2018, Kelly and Emmet Flood made opening remarks at two classified meetings requested by the United States Congress to review sensitive material surrounding Federal Bureau of Investigation’s use of Stefan Halper during the 2016 United States Presidential election. Attendees included Representative Adam Schiff, Representative Devin Nunes, Speaker Paul Ryan, Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Director Dan Coats. The Gang of Eight met in the afternoon for a secondary meeting at Capitol Hill.
The day after, on May 25, 2018, Avril Haines denied during an interview any knowledge of both Crossfire Hurricane and Halper.
It should be noted that the daughter of Stefan — Elizabeth Halper — ran an organisation known as “DHA USA”, whose website is no longer functional. However, being resourceful, I archived it nine months ago. There is also an alternative Wordpress website. There was also an associated company (possibly the same one) known as “DHA-Federal”, formerly known as “CogMedUSA”.
DHA USA (which stands for Doctor Halper & Associates) provided psychological testing and assessment services to local, state and federal government agencies. The organisations involved included the Federal Occupational Health, the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service. Between September 2015 — March 2016, Elizabeth was a subject matter expert for the United States Government. Elizabeth is also an artist.
As mentioned, the CEO was Elizabeth, while Dr. Lezlee Brown (Stefan’s wife) was on the advisory board with Stefan Halper himself.
“Donald Trump recently reeled off an impressive list of Chinese books that he has read over the years that has helped him understand the nation and people that he does business with.
‘I’ve read hundreds of books about China over the decades,’ Trump told Xinhua, the official news agency of the People’s Republic of China.
Asked to name any of his favorite tomes on China, Trump reportedly listed the following 20 books right off the top of his head.
‘The Party’ by Richard McGregor.
‘On China’ by Henry Kissinger.
[…]
7. ‘The Beijing Consensus’ by Stefan Halper.” — Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2011
