A new report claims Stefan Halper, a University of Cambridge professor and alleged FBI mole on the Trump campaign, was not involved in spying on the Carter campaign nearly 40 years ago.
Historian and Reagan author Craig Shirley wrote in The Washington Post that reports accusing Halper of stealing former President Jimmy Carter's debate briefing books are untrue.
"He was not involved in stealing President Jimmy Carter's briefing books during the 1980 presidential election," Shirley wrote. "Halper did obtain a memo from the Carter White House advising the incumbent how to deal with Reagan, but this was long before the debate, and there is no evidence Reagan ever saw it or was told of it."
Shirley then went into detail about the missing briefing books, saying the late Paul Corbin — a Democrat aligned with the Kennedys who was also "a card-carrying member of the Communist Party," Shirley wrote — swiped the books and handed them to former President Ronald Reagan's campaign manager Bill Casey.
Shirley said his research showed three of Carter's debate prep books went missing three days prior to an Oct. 25, 1980 debate between Carter and Reagan.
"And they ended up in Reagan HQ," Shirley wrote. "Corbin that same day received $1,500 from William Casey, Reagan's campaign manager. Several days later, he picked up another 'research' check after being with Casey. Jim Baker told me he knew that the briefing books were there. Even Stefan Halper knew it, and admitted as such in an interview to me in 2007 – so did many others in the Reagan campaign."
Shirley said Reagan was never made aware of the stolen books.
The Daily Caller and other media outlets outed Halper as an FBI mole who spied on the Trump campaign in 2016. Subsequent reporting showed the government has paid Halper more than $1 million since 2012, including $282,295 in 2016 and $129,280 in 2017. The nature of his work is classified.
Halper apparently approached former Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, along with Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis, in 2016. He was implicated in the 1980 briefing books theft as well, but Shirley refuted that claim.
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