Congress
has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that the executive branch
executes the law and uses taxpayer money appropriated to it in accordance with
congressional intent.
In
furtherance of that constitutional responsibility, Congress has an obligation
to investigate the executive branch for fraud, waste, abuse and gross
mismanagement.
I
take these constitutional responsibilities very seriously.
From
time to time, I receive information that requires me to ask questions of the executive
branch in an effort to better understand whether any wrongdoing has occurred.
And
if so, what remedial actions will be employed to cure the damage done.
And
that’s what brings me to focus on Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Timothy
Thibault at the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Last
week, while I was meeting with my constituents in Iowa, I sent a letter
to the Justice Department and FBI. I also sent a letter
to the department’s Inspector General.
In
those letters, I provided evidence of extreme left-wing bias shown by Thibault.
He’s
a powerful agent within the FBI.
He
can open and close federal public corruption investigations.
And
he’s a shining example of what’s wrong at the FBI.
Andrew
McCarthy wrote about him last week and wondered what the heck has happened to
the FBI.
This
FBI agent’s left-wing political bias was exposed by his LinkedIn and Twitter
account.
There,
he posted highly partisan material relating to his superiors, matters under the
FBI’s purview and matters under his purview.
His
LinkedIn network includes current and former FBI personnel.
The
general public is able to review his social media content, which includes his
political views, biases and objections.
Thibault,
under the title Assistant Special Agent in Charge, directly posted a partisan
article related to the Michael Flynn case to his LinkedIn account.
The
article was a September 3, 2020, opinion piece from the Washington
Post titled, “Why the Michael Flynn case still matters,” which was about “the
Trump administration’s abuses of the justice system.”
He
also liked other politically charged articles relating to then-President Trump
and his superior, then-Attorney General Barr.
Thibault’s
public political associations don’t end there.
According
to his Twitter feed, which is also under his name, he mocked the election of
Senator Tuberville and Mississippi at the same time.
He
said, “Thank God for Mississippi – state motto of Alabama.”
When
Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted “Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK,” Thibault replied, “Your
dad was a disgrace.”
He
recently tweeted “Can we give Kentucky to the Russian Federation?”
In
response to a Catholic priest’s tweet critical of abortion, he tweeted an
anti-Catholic slur to both the Catholic priest and then-President Trump: “Focus
on the pedophiles.”
There
are more examples, but you get the picture.
After
my letters were made public, he reportedly set his tweets to protected mode and
deleted his LinkedIn profile.
His
social media activity likely violated several federal regulations and department
guidelines designed to prevent political bias from infecting FBI matters.
Such
restrictions on political activity are heightened for senior FBI officials like
Thibault because of the risk of improper influence on investigative matters.
If
he projects this type of political sentiment in public using his name and
title, there’s no telling what he’s doing within the privacy of his office and
in front of subordinates.
The
fact that this FBI agent has the power to open and close investigations into
political figures, Republican and Democrat, is cause for serious concern.
His
actions present a grave risk of political infection and bias in his official
decision-making process.
What
have the Justice Department and FBI done to oversee his work behavior?
How
many investigations have been infected by his political bias?
I
fear that for many years he’s been able to do whatever he’s wanted to do.
Accordingly,
such conduct unquestionably undermines both the Justice Department and FBI
because, at minimum, it creates the perception of unequal application of the
law.
At
the maximum, his political bias has materially infected investigative matters
he’s been a part of.
This
is why the American people have lost confidence in the Justice Department and
FBI to do the job they’re supposed to do.
Political
considerations have infected them. And the cost is a loss of faith in the very
institutions that depend on the American people’s trust for their credibility.
My
press
release last week listed a phone number and email address for Justice Department
and FBI whistleblowers to contact my office.
Since
then, I’ve had whistleblowers reach out to me about Thibault and others. I’ll
have more to say about that in the coming weeks.
I
urge anyone that’s willing to speak to government waste, fraud, abuse and gross
mismanagement to contact me.
And
I strongly urge the Justice Department and FBI to clean house without
hesitation.
Transparency
brings accountability and my future investigative actions in this space will do
exactly that. Stay tuned.
