I might be wrong, but this is the first prime-time mention of Stefan Halper I’m aware of:

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Two days prior to the New York Times article outlining an FBI counterintelligence sting operation to infiltrate the Trump campaign I wrote the following:

I have a sneaking suspicion the Machiavellian connections between the U.S. intelligence apparatus and multiple foreign agents/actors, including the work of Stefan Halper in the 2016 presidential election, are only a few days from fully surfacing.  There could be enough sunlight on U.K/U.S. political and intelligence officers to launch multiple investigations.

Well, buckle up, I think today we are going to see and hear much, much more.

…at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos,… ~NYT

Originally, attention was paid to Glenn Simpson saying in that August 2017 testimony the FBI had some additional ‘inside’ knowledge in addition to Chris Steele’s information.  Talk of campaign interlopers increased last week after the DOJ/FBI started stonewalling Devin Nunes and accusing him of trying to reveal the identity of a confidential CIA and FBI source for the 2016 origination of the FBI counterintelligence operation against Trump.

People began connecting Glenn Simpson’s prior 2017 testimony about ‘inside sources’ to the 2018 DOJ statements about exposing CIA/FBI ‘sources’. {See Here} Due to defensive leaks from within the corrupt intelligence apparatus the name Stefan Halper was identified.  {See Here} Stefan Halper is a foreign policy expert and Cambridge professor with connections to the CIA and its British counterpart, MI6.

Then came this:

New York Times – […] 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…

Stefan Halper connects to the same circle of intelligence operatives Christopher Steele used for his sketchy Dossier construct.  Halper’s role looks simple: make the low-level Trump campaign aides appear dirty… the CIA would relay that information to the FBI; and the FBI counterintelligence unit (Agent Peter Strzok) would take it from there.

A close circle of politically connected U.S., British, Australian and Russian intelligence insiders begins to back-stop the larger conspiracy.  The information provided by the international crew was apparently shaped and funneled by former CIA Director John Brennan to the FBI for domestic political exploitation.

Andrew McCarthy appeared on Fox News this morning to discuss the bombshell admissions within a New York Times report, leaked by FBI and DOJ officials, attempting to justify their illegal spying and surveillance operation against the campaign of Donald Trump in 2015 and 2016.

Andrew McCarthy’s Latest Article Here

Real Clear Investigations journalist Paul Sperry has noted that Inspector General Michael Horowitz found “reasonable grounds” for criminal prosecution and referred his findings to U.S. Attorney John Huber for possible criminal prosecution.

(Tweet Link)

Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise to CTH readers.  Remember, the IG draft report has just been sent to the principals for review.  Generally speaking IG draft reviews take around two weeks.  The final IG report is on target for release by the end of May.

While the terms “reasonable grounds” and “criminal prosecution” gain additional emphasis against the draft submission, months ago it was transparently obvious OIG Michael Horowitz discovered criminal conduct and submitted his request.  AG Jeff Sessions informed everyone of U.S. Attorney John Huber in March.

If IG Horowitz did not discover reasonable evidence of criminal conduct there would not be a U.S. Attorney (Huber) paralleling his investigation since late last year.  U.S. Attorney John Huber was assigned to assist Horowitz at least eight months ago. It wasn’t until March of this year when AG Jeff Sessions, quietly made the acknowledgement.

The evidence of a U.S. Attorney working with Horowitz was initially evidenced when it became obvious that Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Baker and Bruce Ohr were cooperating with the investigation.   Each of these individuals is clearly outlined as engaging in conduct that exposed them to legal risk.  The IG cannot coordinate terms of cooperation surrounding unlawful conduct.  That was the first indication a U.S. attorney was assisting.  That indication was more than six months ago.

“They are sat down, told to not do anything, say anything or discuss anything UNTIL they get an attorney. At which time, the attorney is handed a letter from the investigating unit. That letter says in essence, this is how screwed you are. If you want to be less screwed you will sign this letter of cooperation and assist us. When we don’t need you, you sit there. When we do we will call you and you will provide what we need. Any deviation from this agreement lands you in jail for the full term.” (Link to Prior)

The fact that U.S. Attorney John Huber exists is evidence in-and-of-itself that criminal conduct was discovered by IG Horowitz.  It should not come as a surprise to hear news today about this.  Clearly U.S. Attorney John Huber has been reviewing evidence and conducting his own investigation for more than six months.

The process was outlined by Jonathan Turley WATCH (March 2018):

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Fox News host Laura Ingraham interviews President Trump attorney and former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, about current political events and the ongoing fiasco with the Robert Mueller investigation. WATCH:

Last week, in an effort to target President Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, sketchy porn-lawyer Michael Avenatti received and released stolen financial records for a group of people who held the name Michael Cohen.  At least two of the people who had their records released were the wrong Michael Cohen.

In a New Yorker article today, far-left playtime ‘journalist’ Ronan Farrow writes about his contact with the law-enforcement official who stole the Cohen financial records and gave them to the sketchy porn lawyer.

From the timing it appears the Treasury Department Office of Inspector General is close to catching the criminal leaker.  As such, Farrow writes a sympathetic outline attempting to shape a narrative of a “law-enforcement official” as a wounded ‘whistleblower‘.

New Yorker – Last week, several news outlets obtained financial records showing that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, had used a shell company to receive payments from various firms with business before the Trump Administration.

In the days since, there has been much speculation about who leaked the confidential documents, and the Treasury Department’s inspector general has launched a probe to find the source. That source, a law-enforcement official, is speaking publicly for the first time, to The New Yorker, to explain the motivation: the official had grown alarmed after being unable to find two important reports on Cohen’s financial activity in a government database. The official, worried that the information was being withheld from law enforcement, released the remaining documents. (read more)

Here’s the problem with Farrow’s sympathetic motive framework. The ‘law-enforcement official’ stole, and released, financial records of the wrong Michael Cohens. That’s not the conduct of a “whistleblower”; that’s the conduct of an entrenched and corrupt partisan ideologue holding -and exploiting- their position within law-enforcement.

A Big Difference.