Timothy Thibault, a top-level FBI agent who had been under fire for his role in investigations regarding President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, resigned late last week and was walked out of the FBI, two U.S. officials confirmed. But these officials also said that Thibault had reached retirement age, and they added that all of those who retire hand over their badge and gun and are escorted out of the building.
Thibault, who worked in the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., had recently been removed from his position as assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which covers all of the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.
Thibault came under fire earlier this year from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley who had accused him of “improper conduct” in the Hunter Biden investigation, alleging that Thibault had tried to close the probe.
Grassley said in late July that “highly credible” whistleblowers had approached a senior Senate Republican and alleged a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about Hunter Biden. He cited a 2020 FBI intelligence assessment that was “used by an FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation.” He continued, “Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation.”
In October 2020, one month before the election, “an avenue of derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed” by a senior FBI agent at the bureau’s Washington Field office. An earlier letter from Grassley identified the agent as Timothy Thibault.
“[T]he allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,” Grassley claimed.
In response to Thibault’s retirement, Grassley said in a statement, “Mr. Thibault’s blatant partisanship undermined the work and reputation of the FBI. This type of bias in high-profile investigations casts a shadow over all of the bureau’s work that he was involved in, which ranged from opening an investigation into Trump based on liberal news articles to shutting down investigative activity into Hunter Biden that was based on verified information.”
He added, “Political bias should have no place at the FBI, and the effort to revive the FBI’s credibility can’t stop with his exit. We need accountability, which is why Congress must continue investigating and the inspector general must fully investigate as I’ve requested.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray was asked about Thibault at a hearing earlier this month on Capitol Hill and said allegations that Thibault “liked” social media posts critical of Trump associates was “troubling.”
The FBI declined to comment.