Politics

Top FBI Official Who Quit Agency Had Long History Of Misconduct Allegations

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• Timothy Thibault reportedly resigned from the FBI after recently losing an assistant special agent in charge role at its Washington, D.C. field office.
• Thibault has been the subject of numerous allegations of misconduct, including claims he tried to stifle negative Hunter Biden reporting, attempted to have cases improperly relabeled “domestic violent extremism” and engaged in partisan social media behavior.
• “Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation,” Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said.

Timothy Thibault, a senior FBI agent who recently left the agency, was previously accused of numerous instances of misconduct by Republican lawmakers and FBI whistleblowers.

Thibault retired over the weekend after recently being removed from a role as assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Washington, D.C. field office. However, government officials have brought forward accusations that he tried to hinder the FBI’s inquiry into Hunter Biden, acted in a “highly partisan” way on social media and urged that some cases be improperly branded “domestic violent extremism.”

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told Fox News last week that Thibault launched an investigation into former President Donald Trump “on fuzzy newspaper reports.” He said in July that the FBI allegedly “developed information in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s criminal financial and related activity.”

Thibault was accused of ordering the closure of an “avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting” in October 2020, Grassley stated, citing whistleblowers. The agent allegedly went against FBI guidelines by failing to give a valid reason for closing the matter, according to the senator.

Thibault was one of multiple FBI officials accused of trying to use improper marking to prevent the Hunter Biden reporting avenue from someday being opened, Grassley claimed.

“Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation,” Grassley wrote in his July 25 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. He called Thibault “highly partisan” on Fox News last week, referencing his social media activity.

Thibault also often shared or responded to tweets against Republicans. He told Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney her father former Vice President Dick Cheney “was a disgrace.”

Grassley told Wray and Garland in a May letter that Thibault had probably violated “his ethical obligations as an FBI employee,” and mentioned his recent tweet remarking, “Can we give Kentucky to the Russian Federation?”

Thibault’s social media record included positively responding to criticism of his own superior, then-Attorney General Bill Barr. Grassley said Thibault had liked a LinkedIn post sharing a February 2020 Washington Post opinion article that criticized Barr’s leadership, the Washington Examiner reported.

Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan claimed in July that whistleblowers told him Thibault and other FBI personnel were “pressuring agents to reclassify cases as ‘domestic violent extremism’ even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification,” according to Breitbart. One whistleblower specifically alleged a Counterterrorism Assistant Special Agent in Charge “pressured agents to move cases into the DVE category to hit self-created performance metrics,” according to Jordan’s July 27 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray cited by the outlet.

Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen admitted last month that cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots significantly contributed to the statistically increased rate of domestic terrorism investigations in the past two years, Fox News reported.

During an Aug. 4 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Wray confessed that Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s allegations of Thibault’s partisan social media activities were “deeply troubling,” according to Politico. At the time, Kennedy said Thibault was on leave and also argued he “covered up derogatory info about [Hunter] Biden.”

The FBI director claimed at the hearing that Thibault had been a Washington field office assistant special agent in charge “until relatively recently,” contending the actions Kennedy alleged were “not representative of the FBI,” Politico reported.

Thibault’s legal counsel Morrison & Foerster LLP denied he showed any political partisanship in his work, “supervise[d] the investigation of Hunter Biden” or was involved “in any decisions related to any laptop that may be at issue in that investigation,” Time reported Wednesday. Grassley told the outlet Thibault’s “statement fails to address the allegations brought forth by whistleblowers who provided specific and credible allegations of political bias and his failure to comply with Department and FBI guidelines and standards.”

Neither the FBI nor Thibault’s counsel immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.