The CIA operative and FBI informant used to gather information on the Trump campaign in the 2016 campaign was responsible for a spying operation in the 1980 presidential election, The Intercept has reported.
According to the outlet, Stefan Halper managed CIA officials — reportedly under the direction of former CIA Director George H.W. Bush — from inside the Carter administration.
The plot involved CIA operatives passing classified information about then-President Jimmy Carter's foreign policy to officials for the Ronald Reagan campaign to ensure it knew of any foreign policy decisions Carter was considering, The Intercept reported.
The background provides a fuller picture of Halper, who has been portrayed by House Republicans — and President Trump himself — as an operative used to spy on the Trump campaign.
And though the Department of Justice suggested its informant was a secret, high-level, covert intelligence asset, The New York Times last week, without naming Halper, described him as "well known in Washington circles, having served in previous Republican administrations and as a source of information for the CIA in past years."
The Daily Caller was among the outlets who now have named Halper, reporting last Thursday he’s a University of Cambridge professor "with CIA and M16 contacts."
According to The Intercept, Halper, through his CIA work, has extensive ties to the Bush family — and the CIA's perceived meddling in the 1980 election and its open support for its former director George H.W. Bush to become president generated a political controversy.
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