The Justice Department’s watchdog said an FBI official handling sensitive criminal cases in the nation’s capital may have violated the law due to his partisan social media posts, many of which criticized then-President Donald Trump and then-Attorney General William Barr.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that Timothy Thibault, the FBI assistant special agent in charge at the Washington Field Office, may have broken the Hatch Act, an inconsistently enforced 1939 law that precludes most executive branch federal employees from engaging in electioneering and political activity.
GRASSLEY RAISES ALARM OVER PARTISAN SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BY FBI OFFICIAL
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) demanded in May that the leaders of the Department of Justice and the FBI investigate whether the official violated DOJ guidelines through partisan posts on social media.
Thibault, who handled public corruption matters and other criminal investigations, “likely violated several federal regulations and Department guidelines designed to prevent political bias from infecting FBI matters, including the Attorney General Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations and FBI social media policies,” Grassley said.
“After carefully reviewing the information in your letter, we determined that some of the allegations and conduct you described in your letter implicate potential violations of the Hatch Act, which limits certain political activities of federal employees,” Horowitz told Grassley in a letter on Wednesday. “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged violations of the Hatch Act. As a result, we have referred the relevant allegations to OSC to review and respond as it deems appropriate.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said the office “is unable to confirm whether or not we have specific open investigations.”
“Without commenting on specific personnel matters, all FBI employees are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct,” an FBI spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “Any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and referred to the Inspection Division.”
Grassley sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray that set a preliminary deadline of June 14 for them to share documents related to Thibault, including investigations he has supervised since 2015.
Thibault’s purported LinkedIn account stated he is an assistant special agent in charge at the Washington Field Office in the nation’s capital, a position it said he has held since August 2020. The account said he has been in the FBI for more than 25 years.
“Based on a review of open-source content, 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 said. “Accordingly, his actions present a grave risk of political infection and bias in his official decision-making process, creating serious questions with respect to oversight of investigative matters under his purview.”
Grassley added: “ASAC Thibault’s social media postings, comments, and ‘likes’ … demonstrate a pattern of improper commentary related to, for example, ongoing FBI investigations including those under his purview.”
An FBI representative provided a comment to the Washington Examiner earlier this month.
“Without commenting on any specific personnel matters, all FBI employees are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. Any allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and referred to the Inspection Division,” the representative said.
Grassley noted Thibault had “liked” a LinkedIn post of a Washington Post opinion piece in February 2020 that repeatedly critiqued Barr’s tenure at the Justice Department.
Thibault also liked another Washington Post column in September 2020 that criticized Barr’s handling of the cases against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Trump associate Roger Stone. Grassley showed Thibault directly posted on his LinkedIn another Washington Post piece in September 2020 titled “Why the Michael Flynn case still matters.”
Grassley also said he had found the official’s Twitter account and pointed out Thibault retweeted an anti-Trump Lincoln Project tweet that said, “Donald Trump is a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”
When Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) tweeted in June 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic that “Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK” and shared a photo of her father masked up, Thibault replied in a since-deleted tweet, “Your dad was a disgrace.”
“These illustrative social media posts call into question ASAC Thibault’s ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of an FBI agent objectively and without bias,” Grassley wrote. “His social media posts require investigation into what, if any, oversight Department leadership has done to ensure that investigative decisions under his charge have not been infected with a political bias.”
Thibault tweeted in April, “Can we give Kentucky to the Russian Federation?” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul are both Republicans from that state.
The FBI official liked an August tweet pushing back on criticism of President Joe Biden, by criticizing Trump instead, for looking at his watch during the dignified transfer of 11 of the 13 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan that month and liked another tweet that month claiming former President Barack Obama’s only scandal as president was wearing a tan suit.
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The Twitter account belonging to Thibault blocked the Washington Examiner in May after this reporter followed the account and messaged it for comment. The Twitter account then set all of its tweets to be protected, and thus restricted from view, but not before the Washington Examiner took screenshots. In addition, the LinkedIn profile was deleted but also not before the Washington Examiner took screenshots.
It remains to be seen how the Office of Special Counsel will handle the Thibault case.
