Friday's outing of longtime CIA and MI6 asset Stefan Halper as an FBI asset sent to infiltrate the Trump campaign has social media abuzz today. Reactions have ranged from celebration to outrage, with little inbetween.
To recap, after two weeks of hunting for a "mole" in the Trump campaign, the New York Times and Washington Post both printed incredibly detailed descriptions of Halper - withholding all but his name, solidly corroborating a March report by the Daily Caller's Chuck Ross about Halper's meetings with the Trump aides. Neither publication give Ross credit, of course.
Somehow several anti-Trump intellectuals got their wires crossed, conflating President Trump and Senate Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes' calls for transparency by the DOJ, with the actual media outlets that exposed Halper.
Senior Brookings Institute fellow, and James Comey's close friend, Benjamin Wittes is beside himself - angrily tweeting: "I have a whole lot to say about how the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the President of the United States teamed up to out an intelligence source...," adding in a subsequent tweet "But I am too angry to write right now—and Twitter is probably not the right forum. So I’ll leave it at this for now: Important people defiled their oaths of office for these stories to appear."
I have a whole lot to say about how the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the President of the United States teamed up to out an intelligence source who aided our country in a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation against a hostile foreign power.
To which Paul Krugman replied: "We've basically crossed the line into treason now -- and a whole party is acquiescing"
We've basically crossed the line into treason now -- and a whole party is acquiescing https://t.co/zZdhidfFR3
Maybe Paul... there is just one problem:
Krugman says it's treason to out Halper -- but the NYT and WaPo outed him based on DoJ leaks... https://t.co/2B6QJIJmeH
Others have noted that Halper, a longtime asset of MI6 and US Intelligence - is a rabid Trump hater who openly supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 US election.
"I believe [Hillary] Clinton would be best for US-UK relations and for relations with the European Union," Clinton is well-known, deeply experienced and predictable. US-UK relations will remain steady regardless of the winner although Clinton will be less disruptive over time," Halper, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and senior adviser to the...