The Patriot Post® · Trump Demands Spy Investigation

The Russia collusion investigation took another bizarre turn this weekend. As we have reported, there was stunning news in recent days that the FBI may have had an informant or a spy working inside the Trump campaign. Over the weekend, that informant was publicly identified by several news outlets as Cambridge Professor Stefan Halper.

Key congressional leaders, Chairmen Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy, have been demanding information about the original source of the counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign for some time. But they have been repeatedly stonewalled because the Department of Justice claimed that it is too dangerous to expose sensitive sources.

So much for that excuse. By the way, kudos to The Daily Caller. The conservative media outlet sniffed out Halper months ago! 

According to various media reports, Halper has been a top secret source for the FBI and the CIA. Halper had contact with at least three individuals on Trump’s campaign: Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos. The New York Post reports that he was paid more than $400,000 in 2016 and 2017 by a shadowy Pentagon office.

Needless to say, President Trump didn’t take the news lying down. Sunday afternoon he tweeted:

“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not wait until Monday’s “official” demand. He immediately instructed Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, to begin a new probe.

“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Rosenstein said in a written statement Sunday.

President Trump reportedly met with Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray at the White House Monday afternoon.

Brennan’s Meltdown

Former CIA Director John Brennan has once again gone off the deep end. He threatened Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling them that they will be held responsible if they don’t stop Trump.

Brennan’s public comments sound more and more panicky, like a man who deeply fears the truth. He clearly has problems telling the truth.

Speaking of Hillary…

While we wait for the inspector general’s report on the Clinton investigation to be made public, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy gave us something of a preview this weekend. In a column at National Review, McCarthy examines how the FBI treated Hillary Clinton with kid gloves while it aggressively pursued gossip against Donald Trump.

To appreciate why the Justice Department inspector general is investigating the FBI’s handling of the Clinton investigation, I urge you to read McCarthy’s entire column. But here’s a good summary:

“Clinton’s [presidential] bid was saved, not destroyed, by Obama’s law-enforcement agencies, which tanked a criminal case on which she should have been indicted. And the hush-hush approach taken to the counterintelligence case against Donald Trump was not intended to protect the Republican candidate; it was intended to protect the Obama administration from the specter of a Watergate-level scandal had its spying on the opposition party’s presidential campaign been revealed.”

Trump Wins Again

President Trump’s tough approach with China appears to be paying off. Trade talks, kick-started under the threat of new tariffs, brought the Chinese to the table and ready to deal. Talks in Washington, between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Vice-Premier Liu He, apparently reached a major breakthrough.

Negotiators released a joint statement Saturday that read:

“There was a consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China. To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services.”

Meanwhile, a new poll from CBS News has some good news for President Trump. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed rate the economy as “somewhat or very good,” and 68% credit President Trump’s policies for the current state of the improving economy.

Stop Demonizing Israel

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, most Americans support President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Only 29% disagree. 

Apparently the administration of New York City's Beacon School falls into that 29%. Last week, the school held a moment of silence for 62 Gazans killed during rioting along the Israeli border. At least 50 of them were members of the terrorist group Hamas.

If Hamas had succeeded in breaking through the security fence and killed 62 Israeli civilians, would the Beacon School’s administration have called for a moment of silence for dead Israelis? I doubt it. There is a growing faction on the Left that has a high degree of tolerance for dead Jews.

Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer authored a brilliant editorial in Sunday’s Washington Post. It is short, but packed full of excellent points. For example, Ambassador Dermer notes that Hamas claims 50 of the 62 Palestinians killed were Hamas fighters, and he observes:

“Those figures would make the Israeli military operation to stop the violent mob … trying to infiltrate our border under a dense cloud of smoke arguably one of the most surgical in history.”

He’s right! Imagine that thousands of people storm your border under the cover of billowing smoke from burning tires. Of course, none of them are wearing uniforms. And yet even under these conditions, 81% of the causalities are confirmed terrorists. That is astounding. 

Far from being condemned, Israel should be praised for its incredible efforts to avoid the loss of innocent life under such circumstances.

Standing for Nothing

The Boy Scouts of America dropped the word “Boy” from its name this month following an earlier decision to start admitting girls. The organization will now be known as “Scouts BSA.”

So like KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken), the SAT (formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test) and NARAL (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League), the Scouts has clumsily turned its name into an acronym whose letters officially stand for … nothing. This is a major disservice to boys and girls.

Read more in my latest opinion piece at The Daily Caller.