Fbi
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, last week, while I was meeting with constituents in Iowa, news broke here in Washington, DC, about Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault's retirement.
Since May 31 of this year, I have highlighted Tim Thibault's partisan bias and how it infected major FBI investigations. That included a July 18 letter of this year that highlighted his role in opening a criminal investigation into Trump's campaign and advisers. That investigation is the electoral investigation that has been in the news.
For example, on July 26 of this year, the Washington Post reported on that very same Trump investigation. Now, however, the Post failed to note that Thibault was the prime mover in opening it.
Now get this: The Post failed to note that Tim Thibault predicated the investigation, in a substantial part, on liberal news articles, as well as information derived from a liberal nonprofit. Attorney General Garland and Director Wray approved a full investigation anyway, which, as we all know, was contrary to standard procedure for moving ahead on an investigation.
That Washington Post article occurred 1 day after I made the Trump investigation letter public and 1 day after I made the July 25 Hunter Biden investigation letter public.
Since Tim Thibault's exit from the FBI, I have noticed more news articles and reporting that haven't been accurate with respect to the allegations that I have made public. Let me take this opportunity, then, to correct the record with respect to that inaccurate reporting.
Some reports have noted that the Hunter Biden criminal probe is ongoing; therefore, how can the allegations of Thibault shutting down investigation activity relating to Hunter Biden be credible?
Well, this is the difference: The whistleblower disclosures to me relate to investigative activity and avenues of information that originated entirely separate from the ongoing Hunter Biden criminal probe. That is why the allegations that I made--that I brought forward--are so very, very important, because we are dealing with a separate category of potentially criminal information relating to Hunter Biden that the FBI has within its possession and the information received by the FBI was either verified or verifiable. Even so, based on allegations, the investigative activity was shut down by Special Agent Thibault and, of course, by others based on the false assertion that it was disinformation.
How many times do we have this ``disinformation'' coming up as an excuse all the time with Grassley's investigations?
Now, to be precise, FBI officials want to take action with respect to this separate investigative information that the FBI had in its possession related to Hunter Biden. However, Thibault blocked the FBI from doing what would normally be done. Accordingly, the investigative activity and the information cannot be advanced as it should have been, which means the FBI could have gathered more evidence with respect to Hunter Biden but cut bait instead. And the FBI and Thibault cut bait right before the 2020 Presidential election.
Since the information and activity was shut down, it wouldn't have been initially shared with any ongoing criminal probe. That calls into question, then, what U.S. Attorney Weiss is actually investigating. It also calls into question what the FBI's Baltimore field office is reviewing and whether it is the full scope of evidence.
Now, I have asked Director Wray about that whole issue. I asked him:
How can verified and verifiable information relating to the Hunter Biden's potential criminality be shared with U.S. Attorney Weiss if it is shut down?
We have no answer from Director Wray.
At the Judiciary Committee's August 4 oversight hearing, Director Wray said that it is his expectation that such information would be shared with relevant offices.
So, Director Wray, I have this question: What have you done to ensure that your expectation has been met?
Because of Director Wray's failure to answer, Congress is unaware of whether or not the FBI has finally shared full and complete information and investigative activity with any ongoing criminal probe.
Therefore, without additional transparency from the government, there is a very real chance the Hunter Biden criminal probe doesn't include the full evidentiary picture.
Now, how can the American people trust the results? Some have also questioned how an assistant special agent in charge like Thibault can have so much power--power to open and close investigative activities.
Well, that is exactly what he did. And that power is often abused within the FBI. For example, on March 28 of this year, Chairman Durbin and I wrote a letter to the FBI about an audit. That audit showed widespread violations of internal policies designed to ensure proper handling of the FBI's most sensitive investigations.
To read from my letter with Chairman Durbin:
The FBI reviewed 353 Sensitive Investigative Matters--just under half of all such matters that were pending during this 18-month review period--and identified 747 violations.
In 45 investigations, the FBI didn't conduct or document a legal review prior to opening it. In 40 investigations, the FBI officials who opened a sensitive investigative matter didn't obtain approval from the relevant special agent in charge or even the assistant special agent in charge.
Now, with those statistics, I fear that is just the tip of the iceberg.
In conclusion, let's look at Thibault's recent statement and the allegations he didn't address. I think we have five or six.
First, he didn't address his role in opening a Trump investigation based on liberal news articles and information derived from a liberal nonprofit. Secondly, he didn't address his collaboration with Richard Pilger with respect to that investigation. Third, he didn't address efforts to water down the Trump investigation memo sent to Attorney General Garland and Director Wray which they ultimately approved. Fourth, he didn't address the shutting down of the investigative activity and avenues of information relating to Hunter Biden. Fifth, he didn't address the alleged criminality within the information provided to the FBI about Hunter Biden. Sixth, he didn't address the August 2020 assessment opened by Brian Auten that was used to falsely label Hunter Biden's information as ``disinformation.'' Seventh, he didn't address his actions to try and improperly mark investigative closings so that they couldn't be opened in the future. Lastly, Thibault said that he ``welcomes any investigation'' into allegations against him.
Well, Mr. Thibault, come on in. Sit for a transcribed interview with me and my colleagues.
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