Lawsuit Alleges Brennan Received Info From ‘FBI Spy’ To Target Flynn And Trump – Sara A. Carter

Russian-British academic Svetlana Lokhova amended her defamation lawsuit in late August, suggesting that an FBI informant central to the bureau’s investigation into President Trump and Russia was also supplying information to former CIA Director John Brennan regarding former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, according to the amended lawsuit reviewed by SaraACarter.com.

Stefan Halper, a U.S. foreign policy scholar and senior fellow at the University of Cambridge, allegedly delivered erroneous intelligence on Lokhova and Flynn to the intelligence community. The false information was regarding a seminar dinner Lokhova and  Flynn attended in April 2014, in Cambridge, England. Brennan referred in general terms about concerns he had with Trump campaign officials in his May, 2017 testimony before Congress. During the hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Brennan told lawmakers that he was “increasingly concerned” that “Trump associates” were being manipulated by “Russian intelligence services.”

Steven Biss, who represents Lokhova in the lawsuit against multiple media outlets and Halper, said he believes Brennan’s testimony was referring to Flynn and Lokhova. Biss also noted that the most likely source for Brennan was Halper. Halper spread malicious lies to smear both Flynn and Lokhova in the media and those lies were used to target the Trump administration, the lawsuit states.

“It takes courage to tell the truth,” Biss told SaraACarter.com Thursday. “It takes enormous strength to expose the rot in U.S. intelligence. Svetlana Lokhova gets it. She understands that being right, doing right and telling the truth will make

According to Lokhova’s lawsuit, Halper, who helped establish the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, was behind the false news reports that Flynn had some sort of illicit relationship with Lokhova. Lokhova’s lawsuit accuses multiple news organizations of publishing lies provided by Halper, a former Cambridge professor.

Lokhova, who is a British citizen, is also suing Halper for spreading malicious rumors that she is a Russian spy. The lawsuit states “for at least forty (40) years, Halper has been intimately involved in clandestine campaign-intelligence gathering operations.” As reported in the New York Times on July 7, 1983 Halper was used to spy on President Jimmy Carter’s campaign. According to the story sources “identified Stefan A. Halper, a campaign aide involved in providing 24-hour news updates and policy ideas to the traveling Reagan party, as the person in charge.” Halper also had connections within his family to the CIA going back decades to his ex father-in-law former CIA Deputy Director Ray Cline.

“Halper drew Plaintiff into a web of lies,” states the lawsuit. “As part of the sophisticated counterintelligence operation, Halper manufactured and published numerous false and defamatory statements. Halper misrepresented, directly or by implication, that Plaintiff was a “Russian spy” and a traitor to her country (the United Kingdom), that Plaintiff had an affair with General Flynn on the orders of Russian intelligence, and that Plaintiff had compromised General Flynn.”

Recently, Halper stated in court filing that he is entitled to legal immunity ordinarily afforded to federal agents. His lawyers argued that even if Lokhova’s lawsuit’s allegations are true Halper should be granted immunity if he was operating as an informant for the FBI because he would be “subject to the federal common law qualified immunity applicable to government agents.” However, he did not admit that he was a government agent in the response.

Brennan And Halper

However, the amended defamation lawsuit refers to Brennan’s role in targeting Flynn and Lokhova. It focuses on testimony he provided to Congress in May, 2017 and lays out a litany of articles that Lokhova and her lawyers allege were used to deceive the American public in an effort to target the Trump campaign.

“In his testimony before the Committee, Brennan, of course, was expressly referring to Flynn and Lokhova. The source of Brennan’s “intelligence” was Halper. Brennan passed on Halper’s warning about Flynn and Lokhova to the FBI to be used in the counterintelligence operation against President Trump,” the lawsuit alleges.

Brennan could not be reached for comment.

Brennan had told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that he was “increasingly concerned” that “Trump associates” were being manipulated by “Russian intelligence services” as part of a broader covert influence campaign that sought to disrupt the election and deliver the presidency to Donald Trump,” he stated.

Brennan didn’t say who in the Trump campaign was in contact with Russians but said he “worried by a number of the contacts that the Russians had with U.S. persons.”

“I know what the Russians try to do,” Brennan testified. “They try to suborn individuals and they try to get individuals, including U.S. persons, to act on their behalf either wittingly or unwittingly.”

He told congressional members that he could only reveal names behind closed doors.

Nearly a year after Brennan’s testimony, the New York Times published the explosive report F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to The Trump Campaign, Not To Spy, As Trump Claims.

In the article, Halper was reportedly “alarmed” by Gen. Flynn’s closeness with Lokhova and the “concern” was “strong enough that it prompted another person to pass on a warning to the American authorities,” as reiterated in a footnote in Lokhova’s lawsuit.

The information matches almost word for word the same circumstances and concerns expressed by Brennan a year earlier, Biss said.

Lokhova’s lawsuit accuses Halper and others involved in the operation of smearing both she and Flynn and using the New York Times story as a way of getting in front of story.

“The purpose of the NYT Article was to ‘get out front’ of the news about Halper’s role as an FBI spy, to distract readers and to promote the FBI narrative that Halper was only used (paid) to “investigate” Russian ties to the Trump campaign, not to spy on the campaign,” the lawsuit states. “Although the Times did not mention Halper by name in the NYT Article, Halper was the ‘Informant’ identified in the headline and the ‘source’ referenced throughout the story.”

Lokhova first met Flynn in Jan. 2014, at an event hosted by the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar. She was invited by former MI-6 Director Richard Dearlove and her then mentor Professor Christopher Andrew.

She attended a group dinner with Flynn at Dearlove’s house at Pembroke College.

“Dearlove – former director of MI6 – knew that Lokhova was born in Russia,” the lawsuit states. “Dearlove had no concerns with Lokhova. Dearlove would never have allowed Lokhova to attend an event with General Flynn, the Director of the DIA, if Dearlove had had any concerns with Lokhova.”

Nearly three years later, Andrew would target Flynn in a column on Feb. 9, 2017 and allude falsely that Flynn was interested in Lokhova. The column suggested that Flynn signed an email to Lokhova ‘General Misha.’ Lokhova’s lawsuit states it never happened, but instead suggests it was part of a disinformation campaign conducted by Halper and Andrew to create the appearance that there was something between she and Flynn.

“Andrew was copied on Lokhova’s email communication with General Flynn. General Flynn never signed a single email, “General Misha,” the lawsuit states. “Halper and Andrew created the phraseology ‘General Misha’ because they knew these words would receive international attention by the media and users of social media. The words were sexy and unforgettable.”

Moreover, the lawsuit accuses Halper of being behind Andrew’s false column, stating that “Halper and Andrew knew these statements were false.” Neither Halper nor Andrew ever heard General Flynn ask Lokhova to travel with him to Moscow as a translator or otherwise.