It's long been known that Stefan Halper served as a confidential human source (CHS) for the FBI. Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse, while not identifying Halper by name, added many details concerning his extensive role in spying on the Trump campaign: Halper secretly recorded several conversations with Trump campaign advisors Carter Page and George Papadopoulos and, more troublingly, the FBI tasked Halper to tape an extensive conversation with Sam Clovis-a co-chair of the Trump presidential campaign.

In a stunning new order aimed at high-ranking individuals in the intelligence community, presiding Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge James Boasberg issued the first ruling against the FBI, claiming that they knowingly misled the courts in order to obtain a warrant and spy on President Trump's campaign in 2016.