(Credit: Newsweek)
A former senior FBI official who has become a top target for Republicans in their Hunter Biden investigation met with the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning.
Timothy Thibault, who worked as an assistant special agent in charge in the FBI’s Washington Field Office, was seen entering the committee’s main meeting room at about 10 a.m. accompanied by two others. They did not take any questions.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and committee member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) were also seen joining Thibault in the meeting.
Thibault’s appearance comes after House Republicans sent the former FBI official numerous letters while they were in the minority asking him to voluntarily appear for an interview with the committee, but they were met with pushback from Thibault’s legal counsel.
Committee Republicans have said they are investigating allegations made by FBI whistleblowers that Thibault worked to shut down a line of inquiry into Hunter Biden while Thibault worked at the FBI and that he pushed to inflate the number of cases of domestic violent extremism the FBI was handling.
His meeting with the committee comes against the backdrop of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announcing Tuesday that he directed Jordan and two other chairmen, Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jason Smith (R-MO), to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on allegations that he was inappropriately involved in his son’s business dealings when he was vice president.
Thibault, whose communication with the committee could now be used as evidence in the broader impeachment inquiry, left the FBI in August 2022 as allegations against him began to make headlines, though he said through his legal counsel at the time that the move was a planned retirement and nothing more.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who first made mention of Thibault last year, also accused the former FBI official of political bias and pointed to an example of Thibault reposting a comment on social media from the “Never Trump” Lincoln Project that said, “Donald Trump is a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”
(…) Committee Republicans have said they are investigating allegations made by FBI whistleblowers that Thibault worked to shut down a line of inquiry into Hunter Biden while Thibault worked at the FBI and that he pushed to inflate the number of cases of domestic violent extremism the FBI was handling. (Read more: The Washington Examiner, 9/12/ 2023) (Archive)