. . . Stefan Halper ? ? ?

Perhaps just a run-of-the-mill academic type, . . . or perhaps something else ? ? ?

Is he the longtime Republican veteran of the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations that informed the FBI of criminal activity within the Trump campaign?

he’s The big “insider informant” That Trump’s ALS attourney has been freaking out about.    And it’s the next big story on FOX news.  

 as the investigation is closing in around Trump, right wing media is now getting ready to cry about the methods of the investigation in hopes that it will draw attention away from the investigation’s conclusions.

They’re saying now it’s illegal for investigators to investigate or something....  It’s kinda like when they said it was illegal for Obama to issue executive orders.  It’ll give Sean Hannity something to focus his show on while the "fake news mainstream media" reports on the what may be the biggest presidential scandal in our history.

"while the "fake news mainstream media" reports on the what may be the biggest presidential scandal in our history." --OR the biggest load of crap from fake news this week.....

We have the Democratic administration, along with the Justice Dept & FBI which was run by one of the most biased AGs in history, sending in a spy on the opposition party during an election, but PJ doesn't see anything wrong with that.

The FBI also used a fake dossier supplied to them from the clintons & DNC

The Trump/Russian collusion investigation is 2 years old with no case, but the liberals contiune to hope the indictment is just around the corner.

Tom your delusions are very grand. Unlike Trump, Obama didn't interfere with Justice Department investigations.  You obviously have a very poor understanding of how criminal investigations work.  The FBI gets winds of criminal activity via George Papadopoulos's drunken braggadocio.  They send an informant to chat up members of team Trump they suspect of criminal activity. It is a standard investigatory technique.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in prisons all across America right now based on evidence gathered by confidential informants.  If the use of CIs is the great injustice you and Trump make it out to be, why has Trump and the Republicans in Congress allowed the use of CIs to go on for so long?  Trump could pardon every Federal prisoner that was convicted because a CI was used in his case with the stroke of a pen.  Why hasn't he done it if it so unjust?  Tom if you are so outraged by the use of CIs why haven't you spoke up about it before?

The research found in the dossier that was originally funded by a conservative website (The Washingon Free Beacon) has been proven correct on many of its claims.  

Mueller has been on the job for a year. There have been numerous indictments and guilty pleas. Republicans spent four years investigating Benghazi and there were 0 indictments and 0 guilty pleas.  There were 0 indictments and 0 guilty pleas in almost five years of the Whitewater investigation. So far, Mueller is cleaning up compared to those debacles and there are more indictments just around the corner. You don't end an investigation because it is inconvenient or distressing to the party being investigated. 

Congratulations.   You just posted more lies here than in a typical trump tweet.

the Republican congress voted for the republican special counsel after trump fired the republican fbi director.   And it is being overseen by trumps republican department of justice.    

bengazhi was three years and yielded nothing.   This investigation is 2 years and has already netted 5 convictions ... and counting.    His findings have not been made public yet.   Clearly you dont want them to be.

Congress did not vote on this.  He was appointed by Rosenstein.  The convictions have nothing to do with the premise of the special counsel.

Mueller's investigation has already made it's findings public, thought it's daily leaks

Apparently PJ & Mark don't see anything wrong with the party in power dispatching a spy on the opposition party's candidate, nor using a politically motivated false dossier as the rationale for an investigation.  

As long as the liberals goal of removing President Trump is achieved, it doesn't matter how many violations of the rule of law & democracy are broken

The investigation is 2 years old & nothing has been proven about Trump/Russia collusion.

Tom, you are right Congress didn’t vote on it, but most Republican congress critters including the Republican Party leadership gave Mueller’s appointment a very public thumbs up. 

They aren’t called spies Tom. They are called confidential informants, and as I stated above, it is standard law enforcement investigative practice to use them. Tom, if you are serious about this issue go to your next County Council meeting and ask to be heard.  Use your time to demand that your local prosecutors quit using “spies” to prosecute cases and demand the immediate release of everyone sentenced through your county courthouse who had a “spy” provide testimony in their case.  My guess is you will get laughed out of the venue as some sort of conspiracy kook. 

What’s your point about the time? What was proven in the Bengazhi investigation in the almost four years it went on?  What was proven in the Whitewater investigation in the almost five years it went on? Both were big nothing burgers, and you didn’t raise a stink about those investigations going on too long.  Do you not believe in what is good for the goose is good for the gander? 

Originally posted by: [b]Mark[/b]

" . . . The FBI [g]ets wind of criminal activity via George Papadopoulos's drunken braggadocio.  They send an informant to chat up members of team Trump they suspect of criminal activity.  It is a standard investigatory technique."

Aye, there's the rub:

Item 1: Mr. Papadopoulos's drunken braggadocio came [i]after[/i] Mr. Halper had spoken with him.

Item 2: The FBI did not open a "criminal investigation".

"Instead, the bureau opened a counterintelligence investigation and hoped that evidence of crimes committed by Trump officials would emerge. But it is an abuse of power to use counterintelligence powers, including spying and electronic surveillance, to conduct what is actually a criminal investigation."

Ref: National Review : "Spinning a Crossfire Hurricane: The Times on he FBI's Trump Investigation"