Conservative Group Appeals FOIA Denial on Ex-FBI Agent

A conservative nonprofit challenged the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s decision to reject its Freedom of Information Act request on former agent Timothy Thibault.

The Washington Examiner reported Monday that the Heritage Foundation is still seeking information about Thibault, who is accused of covering for Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden.

Interest in Thibault sparked after Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was tipped off by an FBI whistleblower into the top agent’s alleged attempt to shut down a 2020 investigation into Hunter Biden.

Sources later told The Washington Times that Thibault, then assistant special agent in charge, resigned from the agency after being forced out. Still, the former agent’s attorneys have maintained that he was not advised to leave.

“ASAC Thibault has demonstrated a pattern of active public partisanship, such as using his official title for public partisan posts relating to his superiors and matters under the FBI’s purview, that is likely a violation of his ethical obligations as an FBI employee,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation, filed a FOIA with the FBI in early April after the news broke. He requested all information between Thibault, his “alleged girlfriend,” and the media.

Howell also pushed for the bureau to provide all correspondence with Thibault, his supposed girlfriend, the whistleblower, or Grassley.

But the FBI responded to the Heritage Foundation by saying it could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records” due to privacy concerns.

The organization appealed the decision Friday.

“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,” he added.

Congressional Republicans have chased after testimony from Thibault since his departure, but the FBI rejected a request from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, last year.