Former FBI director James Comey is defending the use of a spy against the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Oh, he likes calling it a “Confidential Human Source.” But that’s the same linguistic delusion as Planned Parenthood calling chopped and sold babies “products of conception.” In this case, we are talking about the failed forced abortion of Trump’s campaign and presidency.

Comey tweeted Wednesday:

Facts matter. The FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?

— James Comey (@Comey) May 23, 2018

Let’s look at this spy business. As Trump said Wednesday, “We now call it Spygate.”

The “Informant,” aka The Spy

Last week, the Washington Post and New York Times revealed simultaneously the FBI had an “informant” inside the Trump campaign. He has since been identified as Stefan A. Halper. Who is Stefan A. Halper? The Post lays out a friendly bio here. Basically, he’s a longtime swamp creature with deep ties to the Republican establishment and intelligence community. He was paid over $400K by the Defense Department in 2016-17 for “direct labor.” (“Follow the money,” said Trump in a Tuesday night tweet.”) He also openly favored Hillary in 2016.

Halper is also someone accused by Reagan aides in 1980 of using CIA agents to gather damaging info on Jimmy Carter’s campaign, including getting hold of Carter’s debate briefing books. So he’s been doing this dance since the days of disco. 

We now know he was — by any common understanding of the word — a spy. But of course that’s not the way the DOJ, FBI and their friends in the major media are spinning it.

The spin can be summarized by the Times headline: “F.B.I Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims.” Halper merely sought out fringe Trump campaign figures with random connections to Russia after Comey’s noble FBI realized Russia might be trying to mess with our election. (Halper himself is nowhere to be found.)

James Clapper and his MSM chorus sang along. “We weren’t spying on Trump. We were spying to determine Russia was up to. It’s a good thing. Trump should be happy we were spying.” 

Yeas, Clapper actually admitted to the gullible ladies of The View that spying was taking place and agreed Trump should be “happy” about it. Sounds like Harvey Weinstein saying his victims should be happy he showered them with so much attention. 

Well, Trump is not happy. 

“Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign” No, James Clapper, I am not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018

Several Problems With the Spin

Clapper’s spin has several problems that keep it from being believable. First, the people they tried to get inside information from were fringe folks who had just signed on with the Trump campaign. What damning information could newly minted foreign policy team members Carter Page and George Papadopoulos actually have? They look more like low-hanging fruit than inside sources.

Second, if the FBI was seriously worried about Russian influence, why not simply warn Trump?  “Hey, Donald. The Russkies are trying to mess with things. And these two new yahoos of yours might be getting played.” Easy as pie.

However, Comey, Loretta Lynch and Andrew McCabe rejected the notion of giving Trump a “defensive briefing.” Then Obama’s entire National Security Council principals committee rejected it.

As Byron York reports, that includes “the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, and Homeland Security, the attorney general, the head of the CIA, the White House chief of staff, U.N. ambassador and more.” The whole gang was on-board. 

Third, the FBI launched its counter-intelligence operation on Trump and did not even tell Congress about it. If it’s all about the Russians, why keep it from Congressional oversight?

How Strange

Fourth, two of the people Halper ingratiated himself to just happen to be the two people the FBI used to justify its FISA warrants and counter-intelligence operation against Trump: Page and Papadopoulos. That’s more convenient than GrubHub. 

How strange Halper would email Papadopulos out of the blue offering him $3,000 to write a paper and travel to London. They’d never met.

How strange that a low-level guy like young George would then find himself chatting in a London bar with top-dog Australian diplomat Alexander Downer. Downer would go on to alert American intelligence that drunk young George said he’d heard the Russians had Hillary’s deleted emails. 

The FBI admits Papadopoulos’s boozy, fourth-hand info about the Russians and Hillary emails sparked the counter-intelligence operation against Trump. Or at least that’s what they said when hammered for using the Steele dossier to get FISA warrants. “Investigation didn’t being with Carter Page. Oh, no. It was the suspicious doings of young George.”

How strange Peter “Insurance Policy” Strzok would immediately fly to London to interview Downer.

How strange to hold an interview that violated usual diplomatic protocol. 

How strange that Downer, who like Halper has close ties to British intelligence, helped pump millions into the Clinton Foundation. (For more on that dubious business, check here.)

How strange Halper and Downer hang out together.

Literally just a picture of Stefan Halper and Alexander Downer from 2010 with an associated video.https://t.co/RoT0fA2fCf pic.twitter.com/MOdFqoQUkd

— The_War_Economy (@The_War_Economy) May 24, 2018

 

So, Mr. Comey, what is your official term for “set-up”? 

Turning the Page

Stefan Halper started courting Page in the spring of 2016, almost immediately after it was revealed Page was joining Trump’s foreign policy team. And not long after the FBI credited Page with helping them convict some Russians. 

That is crucial. Somehow, in a matter of weeks, Carter Page went from being a trusted FBI informant to being someone the FBI insisted was an active Russian agent out to harm the United States of America. Only one thing changed. He now was part of Trump’s campaign. He was in the enemy camp — and the enemy wasn’t the Russians.

Dubiously dubbing Page a threat and thus armed with their shady FISA warrant, Comey’s FBI was able to snag all Page communications backwards and forwards. Crucially, they could conduct surveillance on anyone in contact with this dangerous agent. Namely, members of the Trump campaign. In other words, the FBI and Obama Administration had another ticket to spy on Trump. 

The president says he hopes Spygate is not true. He knows the truth of “Crossfire Hurricane” will hit the nation like a Category Five. It will take years to recover. 

The Comey Question

So what are we going to tell our grandchildren, Mr. Comey? We’re going to tell them of the day when the most powerful agencies in the United States government in concert with the White House set their sites on destroying the campaign and then the presidency of an opposition candidate. 

We will tell of a coup attempt described as an “insurance policy.” We will tell them how the light started to shine on this seditious atrocity. Then we will tell them how justice was done. 

We will speak names like “Comey” and “Clapper” and “Brennan” and “Obama” with the same level of contempt previously reserved only for Benedict Arnold. 

And we will tell our grandchildren to be ever vigilant. Because the greatest danger to America isn’t a foreign enemy. It’s Americans in power who think they know better than the American people and use that power against their fellow citizens.