Top Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault, requesting a transcribed interview and the preservation of all existing and future documents related to his role in the politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI.
The Washington Times first reported Mr. Thibault resigned from his post after a 30-year career at the FBI late last month amid revelations about political statements he made while leading the public corruption unit.
The request, written by Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, ranking member of the committee, Darrell Issa of California and Mike Johnson of Louisiana, comes at a time when multiple whistleblowers are giving their disclosures about the FBI to the committee.
Several of the disclosures describe how the Washington field office, in which Mr. Thibault worked, urged FBI agents to track and monitor subjects they have reclassified as “domestic violent extremists” based on conservative activism or ideology.
“Brave whistleblowers have informed us that as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Washington Field Office, you pressured line agents to reclassify cases as ’domestic violent extremism’ even though there was minimal, circumstantial evidence to support a reclassification,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter sent Friday.
“Other whistleblowers have come to Congress alleging that you were part of a scheme to undermine and discredit allegations of criminal wrongdoing by members of the Biden family,” the letter continued. “Accordingly, we believe that you possess information relating to our investigation and we request your assistance with our inquiry.”
Kyle Seraphin, a suspended FBI agent of six years who worked in multiple field offices in the counterterrorism division, told The Times that the bureau’s investigations targeting alleged white supremacists and right-wing extremists are mostly “entrapment” operations.
The FBI responded that Mr. Seraphin’s accusation was “inaccurate and represents a clear misunderstanding of the policy.”
Another FBI whistleblower who stepped forward was Stephen Friend, who told the New York Post he filed a complaint late Wednesday with the Justice Department inspector general revealing the Washington field office exaggerated the threat of domestic terrorism and used an “overzealous” investigation of events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to harass conservative Americans and violate their constitutional rights.
Republican lawmakers have scrutinized Mr. Thibault for making anti-Trump statements in social media posts in 2020. At that time, GOP lawmakers said he was helping lead the FBI’s probe of Hunter Biden, whose father, President Biden, was making his bid for the White House.
“Mr. Thibault’s blatant partisanship undermined the work and reputation of the FBI,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said in a statement to The Times when Mr. Thibault left the bureau. “This type of bias in high-profile investigations casts a shadow over all of the bureau’s work that he was involved in, which ranged from opening an investigation into Trump based on liberal news articles to shutting down investigative activity into Hunter Biden that was based on verified information.”
In February and September of 2020, Mr. Thibault liked separate Washington Post opinion pieces criticizing Attorney General William P. Barr for not more aggressively prosecuting former President Trump’s political allies and close associates.
Mr. Thibault also retweeted a post by the Lincoln Project, a Republican group that called Mr. Trump “a psychologically broken, embittered and deeply unhappy man.”
During recent testimony before the Senate, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray dodged questions about Mr. Thibault and his social media posts, calling them “ongoing personnel matters.”
According to reports, an attorney for Mr. Thibault denied that he supervised the investigation of Hunter Biden, “which, as confirmed by the FBI Director on Aug. 4, 2022, is being handled by the Baltimore Field Office.”
“In particular, Mr. Thibault was not involved in any decisions related to any laptop that may be at issue in that investigation, and he did not seek to close the investigation,” the attorney’s statement said.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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