The meta of this little exchange about working for the CIA is amazing

I love how rather than parsing it, Halper just changes the subject

Halper of course has a long history with the CIA, being married to Sybil Kline, daughter of the very powerful Ray Kline, one of the the builders of the CIA itself

And Halper apparently worked for the CIA as well https://twitter.com/SeekerOTL/status/1137831247294730241

Most likely, Papadopoulos had done the research on Halper, as @seekerotl points out, and mentioned the CIA on purpose to evoke some stories from Halper or at least build some bonhomie https://twitter.com/SeekerOTL/status/1251214605025755136

But lets frame all this

Halper has history with CIA
But is, at that moment, recording Papa for the FBI
For an investigation that the CIA spurred
Papa is a target of investigation
Yet is talking about working for CIA

Just two guys talking in a bar lol