The FBI informant President Trump accuses of "infiltrating" his 2016 campaign was Stefan Halper, an American professor who taught at the University of Cambridge from 2001 to 2015, according to multiple reports—and this is far from his first rodeo. The 73-year-old served in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations and was accused of "political spying" on Jimmy Carter's campaign in 1980, the Washington Post reports. He has had Defense Department contracts since 2012. Sources say Halper, described as a moderate Republican with longstanding ties to the intelligence community, met three Trump advisers for foreign policy discussions in 2016, the same year he became a secret FBI informant. The professor and the FBI have declined to comment. In other developments:
- Justice to probe "any irregularities." Trump—who declared Sunday that he would demand a Justice Department investigation of the FBI "spying"—met with top Justice officials including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports. Afterward, the White House said it supported the department's decision to have its inspector general look into "any irregularities." The move, which falls short of a full criminal investigation, is seen as delaying a potential showdown between the Justice Department and the White House.