Top GOP senator: Pentagon office 'continually failed' to provide answers about 'Spygate' figure Stefan Halper
A top Republican senator said a Pentagon office “continually failed” to assist him properly in his investigation into “Spygate” figure Stefan Halper and the controversial FBI informant’s role in the Russia investigation. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to James Baker, the director of the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment, saying his office “has continually failed to furnish all requested records” related to Halper during the “investigation of the mishandling of the Russia investigation.” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December report on the Russia investigation said the FBI concealed significant information provided by Halper, a confidential human source who was dubbed "Source 2." Halper, 75, a Virginia resident and Cambridge professor, worked as an FBI informant in 2016 and recorded discussions with at least three Trump campaign members: campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, campaign associate Carter Page, and campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis. While Halper worked for the FBI, he received thousands of dollars from the Pentagon. Grassley pushed Baker for answers in January and received a letter he deemed lacking in February. He's now asking for answers again, claiming that “it appears that either ONA has refused to comply with my requests or that ONA simply does not maintain full records of Halper’s work.”
A Defense Department audit in 2019 revealed more than $1 million in contracts awarded to Halper between 2012 and 2018, with the ONA unable to provide “sufficient” documentation of whether Halper was doing the research work he’d been hired to do. The ONA is touted as the Pentagon’s “source of deep, long-term future thinking.” When Halper’s role as an FBI informant was leaked to the media in May 2018, it led to accusations from Trump and Republicans that the Obama administration used Halper as part of an illegal effort to spy on the Trump campaign, dubbed “Spygate” and later “Obamagate” by allies of the president.
“On what date did you become aware of Halper’s role in Crossfire Hurricane? How did you become aware?” Grassley’s June letter asked Baker. Grassley previously asked Baker whether Halper used Pentagon funds to recruit sources for the FBI’s investigation into “the now-debunked theory” of Trump-Russia collusion, and the ONA said that if Halper had done so “it would have been unlawful.” Grassley is also pushing for more answers about Halper’s relationship with Russian intelligence officer Vyacheslav Trubnikov, asking whether it could have resulted in “biased and unreliable information” making its way into Halper’s work funded by the Pentagon. Baker repeatedly told Grassley that ONA’s security agency found “no derogatory information” on Halper and claimed that “we are not aware of any purported relationship” between Halper and Trubnikov. Grassley called this response “unresponsive to my question.” The senator followed up with more questions: '“Could a relationship between a contractor and a source suggest that a deliverable may be tainted with inaccurate or misleading information, especially a source that is a known intelligence officer for a foreign, hostile government? If not, why not?”'
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-gop-senator-pentagon-office-continually-failed-to-provide-answers-on-spygate-figure-stefan-halper
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02-05%20ONA%20to%20CEG%20%28Halper%20Follow%20Up%29.pdf
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06-18%20CEG%20to%20ONA%20%28Halper%20Second%20Follow%20Up%29.pdf