Posted on 08/10/2020 7:55:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
What Spygate insider Steven Schrage revealed suggests significant revelations will be forthcoming from U.S. Attorney John Durhams investigation.
This weekend, Spygate insider Steven Schrage broke his silence.
In The Spies Who Hijacked America and a follow-up appearance on Maria Bartiromos Sunday Morning Futures, Schrage detailed the origins of Stefan Halpers meeting with then-Trump advisor Carter Page. Halper would later serve as a confidential human source (CHS) for the Crossfire Hurricane probe, secretly recording multiple conversations with Page, as well as Trump advisor George Papadopoulos.
But it is what Schrage revealed about Halpers initial non-interest in Page then Halpers prediction on January 10, 2017, that Michael Flynn would not last long in the Trump administration that suggest significant revelations will be forthcoming from U.S. Attorney John Durhams investigation into the origins of Spygate.
In July 2016, Schrage was finishing his Ph.D. at Cambridge University under Halpers supervision when he invited Page to speak at a conference entitled 2016s Race to Change the World: How the U.S. Presidential Campaign Can Reshape Global Politics and Foreign Policy. Given Halpers later role as a CHS in Crossfire Hurricane, many surmised that Halper sought out Pages attendance at the conference.
But on Sunday, Schrage made clear that he, not Halper, was responsible for Pages participation in the conference. In fact, Halper ironically, as Schrage wrote, had repeatedly urged [Schrage] to cancel the conference, which was headlined by Presidential Candidate Hillary Clintons confidante Madeleine Albright.
But Schrage did not cancel the conference. Instead, after a 20-something Cambridge administrative official smugly told me theres no way Trump can win and cut our travel funding, it sent me on a mad scramble, Schrage wrote. I had to find someone, anyone, to fly over on a last-minute economy ticket to represent the Trump campaign, and that is how Page crossed paths with Halper. During his interview with Bartiromo, Schrage added that he wanted a representative of the Trump campaign at the conference to provide balance.
From Schrages telling, then, neither he nor Halper sought out Pages participation in the conference for a nefarious purpose. But he says things changed when former MI6 director Sir Richard Dearlove arrived toward the end of the conference.
For most of the conference, Halper couldnt be bothered with Page, about whom he made snarky comments about behind Pages back, Schrage wrote. That all changed, though, after Halper spoke to his long-time collaborator, Dearlove. Halper then seemed desperately interested in isolating, cornering, and ingratiating himself to Page and promoting himself to the Trump campaign.
Schrages statement contradicts the tale Halper told FBI agents on August 11, 2016, when they asked for his assistance in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. According to inspector generals report, the FBI asked Halper if he knew Papadopoulos, and after saying he didnt, Halper then asked whether the team had any interest in an individual named Carter Page. [T]he members of the investigative team didnt react because at that point we didnt know where we were going to go with it, the IG report noted, but the Crossfire Hurricane team then asked Halper about how he knew Page.
According to the report, Halper told the agents in mid-July 2016, Carter Page attended a three-day conference, during which Page had approached [Halper] and asked [Halper] to be a foreign policy advisor for the Trump campaign. Given Halpers connection to Page, the FBI tasked him to spy on Page as well as Papadopoulos, leading to Halper recording multiple conversations with the Trump advisor.
If Schrages version is accurate, Halper purposefully connected to Page and then sold that connection to the FBI to spy on him. Also, under the scenario Schrage presents, Halper did so at Dearloves behest. But why? What was Dearloves interest?
Here, Schrages article is a must-read synopsis of what he calls the Cambridge Four, which in addition to Dearlove and Halper includes Dearloves former MI6 underling, Christopher Steele, and the official MI5 historian turned Cambridge academic Christopher Andrew. Together, the four have fingers in several different strands of Spygate, from the spying on Page, to the invention of an affair between Flynn and the Russian-born, Cambridge Ph.D. student Svetlana Lokhova, to, of course, the Steele dossier.
Steele, we know was paid by the Clinton campaign. But what induced Dearlove, Halper, and Andrew to join in the endeavor? Was it money? Or did intelligence agencies seek out their assistance? If so, which intelligence community? While questioning Dearlove, Steele, or Andrew may prove impossible, Halper is a U.S. citizen. So why hasnt he been hauled before Congress to explain himself?
Halper has quite a bit to explain because, in addition to grooming Page during the Cambridge conference, according to Schrage, Halper seemed amazingly prescient about the fate of Trumps national security advisor.
In a January 10, 2017, conversation with Halper that Schrage recorded, Halper told him, I dont think Flynns going to be around long. Halper then detailed the Machiavellian maneuvers likely to come: The way these things work, Halper said, was that opponents. . . . so-called enemies of Flynn would be looking for ways of exerting pressure. Flynn would be squeezed pretty hard, Halper suggested, and then Flynns reaction to that is to blow up and get angry. Hes really f-cked. I dont know where he goes from there. But that is his reaction. Thats why hes so unsuitable.
When Halper made these predictions, Flynns telephone calls with the Russian ambassador were not yet publicly known. Two days later, the Washington Posts David Ignatius reported those calls after receiving a leak of classified information from a still unknown source, and set in motion the scenario that led to Flynns firing.
Whether Halper knew the specific squeeze that would be put on Flynn, in the form of a leak followed by a perjury trap sham investigation, is unclear. But that Halper saw Flynn not lasting long because opponents or enemies would seek to exert pressure seems strange because Halper supposedly was a Cambridge academic far removed from the D.C. scene. Even stranger is that Halper purported to know how Flynn would react, since Halper has never met Flynn.
How did Halper know any of this? Did Halper have connections in the intelligence community sharing their thoughts on Flynn? Or was Halper hearing things from David Ignatius?
Here, Schrages interview with Bartiromo proves enlightening. According to Schrage, Halper often bragged that Ignatius was one of his media contacts. This statement complements Lokhovas statement to The Federalist that Halper (as well as Andrew) were connected to Ignatius.
In fact, Lokhova told The Federalist that after Halper was outed as a CIA and FBI informant in May 2018, she spoke with Ignatius, and when they spoke, she registered surprise about Halpers role as a CHS. As previously reported, that prompted Ignatius to say he always found Halper reliable as a source. When I said, Wow, he was your source, Ignatius hung up. We never spoke again.
So maybe intel was flowing two ways between Halper and Ignatius.
Schrage doesnt know what prompted Halpers comments, but what he does know he has shared with U.S. Attorney Durham. However, with that investigation dragging on, and Flynns case coming before the entire D.C. Circuit Court on Tuesday, Schrage decided to speak out now, telling what he knows.
Schrage, who alerted Durham of his plans to go public, has promised more information will be forthcoming in the days and weeks ahead. Hopefully, the same can be said of information coming from the governments investigation into the Spygate scandal.
Steven Schrage With Maria Bartiromo
We’ll believe it when we see it.
Please. No more stories about “we got them this time!” Crap.
We have all been fooled too many times now.
****************
And free beer for everyone -- tomorrow.
Has he squealed, or not?
I read this entire article by Steven Schrage. I was pleasantly surprised it was penned by Matt Taibbi.
IF they have not arrested some of these clowns at the FBI by now. It will never happen.
I actually thought we were actually going to see at least a couple of lower peeps get thrown under the bus.
Now, like you I would be SHOCKED if anyone ever gets arrested.
The Constitution was abrogated by both parties on Usurpation Day, January 20, 2009.
The usurper then set about using the entire federal government as his personal mafia.
The crimes everyone is talking about are only the last crimes of an eight year crime spree.
Not ONE of our elected OR appointed honored their oath to the Constitution.
I think we’re in “no D.C. jury will ever vote to convict them so why bother?” mode.
My brain is overloaded with more information. It was time to start arresting people - THREE YEARS AGO.
You are correct and yet the crimes demand a permanent punishment pour encourager les autres.
If there is no law, then there is no law
The Brits have James Bond, and we have the fat, walrus f*** Stefan Halper
Dear God help us.
I smell moose slime Brennan at the root of this frame. Filth at the bottom of the septic tank that is the obamaroid administration. Brennan is delighted to be the dirtiest fecal layer.
Who put the burr under Dearlove’s saddle to set this inferno in motion? It would require a Brennan, a Clapper, or the obamaroid himself via his flunky Rice..
It’s a real problem. Other than a Constitutional Amendment requiring change of venue/venire for any trial of a Federal employee I can’t see what the answer is.
NO ONE has interviewed Halper, Christopher Andrew, Christopher Steele and I forget the 4th of the CAMBRIDGE FOUR!! DEARLOVE!
How about a big, fat SO WHAT?
Page and Popadopolus were low level functionaries (if that) to the Trump campaign. But it gave them a back door into the Trump campaign by letting them spy on him AND anyone he had contact with. (a so-called 'one-hop' rule)
Someone will get stern talking to about this one for sure.
Lindsay Graham will write another letter no doubt.
I think anyone that thinks Barr and Durham are going to bring it all down is living in fantasy land. Ok...so I’m a pessimist, skeptic, glass is half empty kind of guy...Prove me wrong.
This whole thing and everyone involved are so interconnected that taking down one, takes them all down. And they ain’t gonna let that happen.
Would we all be partying in the streets and popping bottles if they ALL went to prison? ABSOLUTELY.
But it ain’t gonna happen. Too much money, power and influence for any of them to go down.
The saddest part is, we have only ourselves to blame. We’ve been letting these people get away with it all for so long, they expect special treatment and they get it. And that goes down to the local level as well as we can all attest to city councils, county commissions, mayors, etc doing and saying whatever they want and not be held accountable for anything. This corona crap is the perfect example.
That may well be.
But how would we know?
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