Hunter Biden investigation: Watchdog appeals FBI’s FOIA denial on ‘partisan’ ex-agent
Jerry Dunleavy
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EXCLUSIVE — A conservative watchdog group appealed the FBI’s rejection of its Freedom of Information Act request on former FBI agent Timothy Thibault after the bureau refused to say if it had information about the ex-official tied to the Hunter Biden saga.
The Heritage Foundation sought details from the FBI about the ex-bureau agent, who allegedly sought to shut down an element of the investigation into Hunter Biden, but records provided to the Washington Examiner show its information requests were denied.
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Thibault, the former FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office, had “ordered closed” an “avenue of additional derogatory” information on Hunter Biden in October 2020, even though “all of the reporting” on President Joe Biden’s son “was either verified or verifiable” through search warrants, according to whistleblower disclosures made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) last summer.
Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation, filed a FOIA with the FBI in early April seeking information on Thibault and his “alleged girlfriend,” named Melissa Morgan-Ransome, asking for “all communications” between Thibault and “the news media” from 2015 to the present, as well as any information the bureau had that included Thibault, Morgan, and the terms “whistleblower” or “Grassley.”
The conservative watchdog told the FBI there were “widespread concerns” from members of Congress that Thibault “has engaged in partisanship behavior in the exercise of his duties.” Howell added that recent news reports indicated Thibault “may be serving as a source to news media outlets seeking to out and discredit whistleblowers who have raised concerns about the weaponization of government and law enforcement for political purposes.”
The FBI responded to the Heritage Foundation’s FOIA last week by claiming the bureau “will neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records” and citing a number of exemptions, contending that “the mere acknowledgment of the existence of FBI records on third party individuals could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
This blanket refusal to say whether records exist is called a “Glomar response,” and the Justice Department’s website says that “such an extraordinary response can be justified only when the confirmation or denial of the existence of responsive records would, in and of itself, reveal exempt information.”
The Heritage Foundation appealed the FBI’s decision on Friday, calling it a “frivolous and bad faith denial” and the Glomar response particularly “absurd,” according to a letter to the Justice Department reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Howell said his request was narrowly tailored to focus on allegations of “improper partisan behavior” by Thibault in his key FBI role.
“The request details, at length, serious and credible allegations from knowledgeable whistleblowers to Congress that ASAC Thibault has let his political biases affect some of the most high-profile FBI investigations in decades,” Howell wrote. “His alleged girlfriend’s posts on social media intimate that not only are the whistleblowers not credible, but their identities will soon be known to the public.”
Howell added, “Is it the FBI’s position that there’s a privacy interest in potentially unauthorized leaks to the media? Or that there is a law enforcement interest to retaliate against whistleblowers who have made protected disclosures to Congress? Such a contention defies logic and reason.”
Thibault left the FBI in August. His lawyers released a statement at the time, saying he “was not fired, not forced to retire, and not asked to retire.”
“There have also been allegations that Mr. Thibault took certain actions in investigations for partisan political reasons,” Thibault’s attorneys said. “Mr. Thibault welcomes any investigation of these false allegations, regardless of his retirement. He firmly believes that any investigation will conclude his supervision, leadership, and decision-making were not impacted by political bias or partisanship of any kind.”
Thibault’s lawyer added, “Mr. Thibault did not supervise the investigation of Hunter Biden. … 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.”
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced last summer that Thibault may have violated the Hatch Act over his social media posts, including those criticizing former President Donald Trump and then-Attorney General William Barr in 2020. To this, Thibault’s lawyers asserted that “those allegations are being investigated by the Office of Special Counsel” and that their client “is cooperating with that investigation, urges the Office to complete its review, and expects to be fully exonerated.”
“Mr. Thibault’s blatant partisanship undermined the work and reputation of the FBI. 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,” Grassley told the Washington Examiner last year.
Grassley told FBI Director Christopher Wray in August that he had evidence “indicative of a deeply rooted political infection that has spread to investigative activity into former President Trump and Hunter Biden.”
When Wray testified before Congress that month, he said he found it “deeply troubling” when he read the recent whistleblower allegations.
Republicans in the House and Senate have called for Thibault to speak with them. But last year, the now-retired FBI official rejected the interview request from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), now the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who has vowed to pursue this further with the gavel.
Jordan blasted Thibault about the FBI official’s decision not to sit down for an interview.
Last month, new bombshell whistleblower claims came from a career IRS criminal supervisory special agent who says he has been overseeing “the ongoing and sensitive investigation” of a “high-profile” and “controversial subject,” Hunter Biden, since early 2020.
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The whistleblower’s lawyer, Mark Lytle, sent a letter to Congress telling them his client has “examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.”
Lytle said he is also representing Thibault.