Grassley’s Bombshells Show House Investigators Exactly Where To Aim Their Next Biden Subpoenas
Grassley may not be able to force the DOJ and FBI to provide answers or documents, but the House can — and it should immediately.
A senior FBI agent who has faced scrutiny from lawmakers over alleged political bias has reportedly resigned and is no longer with the bureau.
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault was seen being escorted out of the FBI building Friday, the Washington Times first reported. Fox News later confirmed that Thibault retired over the weekend and was walked out of the building according to standard procedure.
Thibault's departure from the FBI comes after whistleblowers have raised concerns with lawmakers over alleged political bias within the bureau. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have come forward with allegations from sources within the bureau who said leadership, including Thibault, exerted pressure on subordinates to downplay the Hunter Biden investigation.
Thibault was one of 13 special agents assigned to the Hunter Biden laptop investigation ahead of the 2020 election.
In a July 18 letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Grassley named Thibault and detailed "highly credible" whistleblower claims that he did not follow the FBI's strict substantial factual predication guidelines in the course of the Hunter Biden investigation.
"Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation," Grassley wrote. "Accordingly, the allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation."
After noting that Thibault displayed "a pattern of active public partisanship in his then public social media content," Grassley revealed that in October 2020, one month before the presidential election, Thibault had ordered closed "an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting."
In a separate letter, Jordan disclosed whistleblower allegations that Thibault had pressured his subordinates to pad the number of reported "domestic violent extremism" cases to support the White House's narrative about threats facing the country.
"These whistleblower allegations that the FBI is padding domestic violent extremist data cheapens actual examples of violent extremism," Jordan wrote. "This information also reinforces our concerns — about which we have written to you several times — regarding the FBI's politicization under your leadership," he told FBI Director Wray.
Wray called the allegations against Thibault "deeply troubling" during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month. Thibault was removed from his supervisory role on the Hunter Biden investigation after the whistleblower accusations became public.
FBI officials in the Biden administration have allegedly pressured agents to inflate the number of reported "domestic violent extremism" cases, according to whistleblowers. One of the officials accused of pressuring his subordinates is the same FBI agent who allegedly worked to downplay or discredit negative information about President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information regarding the accusations.
"We have learned that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as 'domestic violent extremism' even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification," Jordan wrote. "Given the narrative pushed by the Biden Administration that domestic violent extremism is the 'greatest threat' facing our country, the revelation that the FBI may be artificially padding domestic terrorism data is scandalous."
\u201c\ud83d\udea8 #BREAKING \ud83d\udea8\n\nWhistleblowers: FBI Leadership Pressuring Agents to Artificially Pad Domestic Terrorism Data\u201d— House Judiciary GOP (@House Judiciary GOP) 1658950747
Biden administration officials have repeatedly asserted that domestic violent extremism is the greatest threat facing the country. FBI Director Wray has previously testified that the U.S. domestic terrorism caseload has "exploded" in size since spring 2020. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified this year that domestic violent extremism is "the greatest terrorism related threat to our homeland."
Responding to the determination of law enforcement officials, the White House National Security Council unveiled a national strategy for countering domestic terrorism last year. And in January this year, the Department of Justice opened a new unit to investigate acts of domestic terrorism.
Seizing on the government's narrative, Democrats have sought to tie political violence and domestic extremism to Republicans, often pointing to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Mainstream news outlets like the New York Times have supported their narrative, reporting that most political violence in America "comes from the political right."
But Jordan's letter raised questions about the government's data, citing "multiple FBI employees" who came forward to accuse top bureau officials of encouraging their subordinates to pad the data.
"We have received accusations that FBI agents are bolstering the number of cases of [domestic violent extremism] to satisfy their superiors," Jordan wrote.
He gave as an example one whistleblower who alleged that agents are "encouraged and incentivized to reclassify cases as DVE cases even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification."
"These whistleblower allegations that the FBI is padding domestic violent extremist data cheapens actual examples of violent extremism," Jordan wrote. "This information also reinforces our concerns — about which we have written to you several times — regarding the FBI's politicization under your leadership," he told Wray.
The letter also refers to an unidentified "field office Counterterrorism Assistant Special Agent in Charge" who allegedly "pressured agents" to reclassify cases as domestic violent extremism "to hit self-created performance metrics."
Jordan identified this person as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault in an interview with Breitbart News.
Thibault was previously named by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a separate letter to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland disclosing that a "highly credible" whistleblower came forward in August 2020 and alleged that the FBI and Department of Justice had coordinated to falsely portray evidence gathered about Hunter Biden as "disinformation."
Grassley wrote that an FBI intelligence assessment was "used by an FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation."
"Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation," Grassley said.
Noting that Thibault previously displayed "a pattern of active public partisanship in his then public social media content," Grassley revealed that in October 2020, one month before the election, Thibault had ordered closed "an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting."
The senator went on to detail that Thibault and other agents "subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future," according to whistleblowers.
The FBI told multiple news outlets it had received Grassley's letter but offered no additional comment.