Top Senator: Whistleblower Information Reveals ‘Political Infection’ Within the FBI

Ranking Republican member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Capitol Hill on April 4, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said allegations from FBI whistleblowers show there’s a “political infection” within the bureau following the agency’s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley demanded information about alleged bias among high-ranking officials.

“Starting on May 31, 2022, I’ve written three letters to you regarding political bias that has infected the FBI’s Washington Field Office,” Grassley wrote Aug. 17 (pdf).

“Two of those letters provided specific and credible allegations based on numerous whistleblowers that have approached my office with information that one can only conclude is indicative of a deeply rooted political infection that has spread to investigative activity into former President Trump and Hunter Biden.”

Hunter Biden is the son of President Joe Biden.

The letter states that the FBI approved an investigation into Trump’s campaign but simultaneously “shut down investigative activity and sources, which included verified and verifiable information, relating to Hunter Biden.”

Whistleblower allegations emerged about FBI supervisory intelligence agent Brian Auten opening an assessment in August 2020 that was used to incorrectly label information about Hunter Biden’s son as false, according to Grassley’s latest letter.

“The FBI has not refuted these serious allegations,“ he told Wray. ”Thus far, the FBI has failed to address the concerns that I’ve raised and failed to produce the requested records.”

Later, the senator wrote that he wants to see an organizational breakdown of the Washington Field Office to see who’s staffed and responsible for the investigations.

“As you are aware, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault is not the only politically biased FBI agent at the Washington Field Office,” Grassley wrote.

Previously, Thibault was flagged by Grassley for sharing a Twitter post calling Trump “a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”

Earlier this month and in previous letters, Grassley singled out Thibault, accusing him of potentially violating federal laws and rules established by the FBI. He alleged that there’s evidence Thibault had partisan bias when handling investigations into the Trump campaign and Hunter Biden.

“Whistleblowers have reported to me, that although the FBI and Justice Department maintain policies dictating specific standards requiring substantial factual predication to initiate an investigation, Thibault and other Justice Department and FBI employees failed to comply with these requirements,” Grassley wrote, noting that the agent has “since been referred to the Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations.”

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Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have been sending letters to the Department of Justice and FBI for years about the information they’ve uncovered about the younger Biden’s business dealings. Republicans say deals he had with Chinese and Ukrainian entities are questionable, although unconfirmed reports say the younger Biden is still under federal investigation.

Earlier this week, the longtime Republican senator promised Republican investigations into the FBI following its raid targeting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort if his party wins back Congress during the 2022 midterm elections.

“And it just seems to me like there’s political bias in the FBI,” Grassley told Breitbart News over the weekend. “And then I have recently—you’ve heard me give evidence of political bias of starting a Trump investigation and then quitting a Hunter Biden investigation. So it’s legitimate to raise the question about the extent to which there’s still political bias and what we’re doing now.”

Since the raid, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told media outlets on Aug. 14 that 14 FBI whistleblowers have come forward so far over the past several months and expressed concerns about a range of issues.

“Fourteen FBI agents have come to our office as whistleblowers, and they are good people,” Jordan said. “There are lots of good people in the FBI. It’s the top that’s the problem. But some of these good agents are coming to us telling us this is baloney what’s going on, the political nature now of the Justice Department.”

Following the raid, Trump and other Republicans have said that the affidavit that would provide reasons as to why the federal government sought an FBI warrant should be released. A judge in the case, Bruce Reinhart, set an Aug. 18 hearing to determine whether it should be unsealed.