The FBI 'informant' behind the Russia hoax

 The Federalist Wire:

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From the very start, the so-called “Russia collusion” narrative surrounding Donald Trump was a house of cards built on shaky ground. It was a story pushed by political operatives, amplified by a compliant media, and propped up by a handful of questionable figures within the FBI. At the center of this farce was Stefan Halper, a longtime FBI informant whose recently declassified records reveal a troubling tale of financial incentives, dubious claims, and an agency all too willing to overlook red flags in its pursuit of a predetermined outcome. The nearly 700 pages of documents, obtained by Just the News after President Trump ordered their release at the onset of his second term, paint a damning picture of a probe—codenamed Crossfire Hurricane—that was rotten from its roots.

These documents, turned over by FBI Director Kash Patel to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, expose Halper as a key player in the FBI’s effort to tie Trump and his associates to Russia during the 2016 election and beyond. Halper, a Pentagon consultant and academic, wasn’t acting out of pure patriotism. The records show he pocketed a staggering $1,181,064.44 from the FBI between 1991 and early 2017, including $70,000 between August 2016 and February 2017—a period that neatly aligns with his work targeting Trump’s campaign, the election, and Trump’s inauguration. The FBI’s own files admit Halper’s motivation included “monetary compensation” alongside vague nods to “patriotism/ideology.” This wasn’t a selfless whistleblower; this was a man cashing checks while feeding the FBI a narrative that didn’t hold up.

One of Halper’s most sensational claims landed like a bombshell in the summer of 2016, when he alleged that Mike Flynn, then a three-star general leading the Defense Intelligence Agency, had left a 2014 Cambridge University event alone with Russian scholar Svetlana Lokhova. The implication was clear: Flynn was cozying up to Moscow. The problem? FBI agents later determined Halper’s story was “not plausible” and “not accurate.” Yet, instead of cutting ties with Halper, the FBI kept him on the payroll and vouched for his credibility as a confidential human source codenamed “Mitch.” A March 2017 memo from the FBI’s Validation Management Unit even declared, “VMU assesses it is likely HALPER is suitable for continued operation, based on his or her authenticity, reliability, and control.” No mention was made of the Flynn-Lokhova falsehood, despite internal concerns.

The FBI’s willingness to overlook Halper’s inaccuracies raises serious questions about the integrity of Crossfire Hurricane. William Barnett, the agent handling Flynn’s case in 2016 and 2017, was blunt in his assessment of Halper’s claims. After checking with U.S. and foreign intelligence officials, Barnett found no evidence to support the Lokhova story. “Intelligence analysts did not locate information to corroborate this reporting,” he told prosecutors in 2020, adding that he found the idea of Flynn leaving an event unaccompanied “not plausible.” Yet the FBI pressed forward, investigating Flynn relentlessly while Halper continued to collect payments.

Halper’s role wasn’t limited to Flynn. The declassified records show he was tasked with gathering dirt on multiple Trump associates, including Carter Page, a low-level campaign adviser who became a prime target of the FBI’s surveillance efforts. In August 2016, the FBI pressed Halper for information on over half a dozen Trump-world figures. One memo from that month outlines an operation targeting Page, with the goal of getting him to “admit that he has direct knowledge of and is either helping coordinate or assisting the RF [Russian Federation] conduct an active measure campaign with the ‘Trump Team.’” The plan failed, but it didn’t stop the FBI from securing a FISA warrant to monitor Page—based in part on unverified allegations from another dubious source, Christopher Steele.

Steele, the retired British intelligence agent behind the infamous dossier, worked in tandem with Halper to fuel the Russia narrative. Both were paid handsomely for their efforts, and both provided information that crumbled under scrutiny. The Steele dossier, funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign through Fusion GPS, was riddled with unverified gossip. Special Counsel John Durham later concluded that “neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.” The dossier’s allegations, like Halper’s Lokhova tale, were a mirage—yet they drove a years-long investigation that cast a shadow over Trump’s first term.

The FBI’s handling of Halper exposes a deeper rot within the bureau’s informant program. A 2019 report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI “did not comply with the AG Guidelines’ requirements and its own policies and procedures for managing long-term CHSs [confidential human sources].” Despite Halper’s history of “violating instructions” as a source—he was briefly “closed” by the FBI in 2011 before being reactivated months later—the bureau continued to rely on him. An April 2017 report called Halper an “integral part” of Crossfire Hurricane, claiming his “behavior has been excellent” and that there was “none” derogatory information about him. This, even as agents privately questioned his reliability.

The financial trail is particularly galling. Halper’s payments weren’t sporadic; they were steady and substantial. In August 2016 alone, FBI Special Agent Stephen Somma submitted payment requests for $5,000 and $15,000 for Halper’s work on Crossfire Hurricane. Another $25,000 was paid in September 2016, with Somma noting that Halper “was integral in an operation against the subject of a sensitive investigation.” By early 2017, Halper was pulling in $25,000 checks in January and February, with the FBI justifying the payments by claiming he was shifting focus to “other matters.” All told, Halper’s $1.2 million haul from the FBI over three decades dwarfs what most informants could dream of earning.

The Pentagon got in on the act too, paying Halper $1.05 million between 2012 and 2016 through its Office of Net Assessment for alleged projects. That office was shuttered in March 2025 under Secretary Pete Hegseth, a move that suggests even the Defense Department recognized the need to clean house. Combined with his FBI earnings, Halper’s financial windfall from government contracts raises uncomfortable questions about whether his loyalty was to the truth or to the paycheck.
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 Those responsible for pushing this political fraud need to be held more accountable than they have been to date.  This should be considered a political scandal that deserves to be examined and prosecuted where appropriate.  While Trump and his associates were the primary victims, American voters were also victims of the fraud. The people within the FBI and the Clinton campaign who pushed what turned out to be a fraud should face consequences.