by Art Moore
FBI whistleblowers allege the agent in charge of the Washington field office not only helped cover up derogatory information on the Biden family’s influence peddling operation, he also was “deeply involved” in the decision to open the investigation against President Trump of so-called “fake electors.”
The agent, Timothy Thibault, is named in the letter Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, presenting evidence of a double standard in how the DOJ and the FBI pursue cases. The senator wrote that whistleblowers allege Thibault and analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment that was used by an FBI headquarters team “to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.”
The letter’s mention of Thibault’s role in the FBI’s investigation of a plan by Trump and his supporters to submit alternative slates of state electors in the 2020 election has largely gone unnoticed, pointed out Jason Foster, a former chief investigative counsel for Grassley.
Grassley said in a Fox News interview this week that he had been assured by Wray that Thibault had since been removed from any “decision-making role.”
But Foster likened that move to the FBI’s handling of Peter Strzok, the lead investigator whose personal animus against Trump was documented in text messages as he pursued the now debunked allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.
“More shades of Strzok,” Foster wrote. “Remove the one who lets the bias show, but full steam ahead on the probe.”
4. Gone unnoticed thus far is that the #whistleblowers reported Thibault and another official were "deeply involved" in initiating the "false-electors scheme" probe that @washingtonpost reported in the article linked above. pic.twitter.com/dBhOOMafEU
— Jason Foster (@JsnFostr) July 27, 2022
Thibault and Richard Pilger, director of the FBI’s election crimes branch, were “deeply involved” in launching the Justice Department’s “false-electors scheme” criminal probe, the Grassley letter states.
Pilger, Foster noted, was involved with IRS official Lois Lerner in the infamous targeting of conservative non-profit groups during President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
The House Jan. 6 select committee characterizes “alternative electors” as part of a coup plot by Trump.
However, as the Washington Times’ Susan Ferrechio points out, in 2016, a group of electors was widely celebrated for refusing to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state in an effort to prevent Trump from becoming president.