FBI special agent who opened Trump investigation reportedly escorted out of Bureau headquarters

Updated: August 29, 2022 - 4:01pm

Former Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault was reportedly escorted out of the Bureau's headquarters on Friday, amid whistleblower allegations that he showed political bias in his handling of politically sensitive investigations.

The Washington Times reported eyewitness accounts that "Mr. Thibault was seen exiting the bureau’s elevator last Friday escorted by two or three 'headquarters-looking types.'"

Whistleblowers alleged that Thibault concealed the partisan nature of evidence from FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland to secure their approval to open an investigation into former President Donald Trump. That investigation culminated in the FBI's raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.

The public release of the affidavit that accompanied the search warrant revealed the warrant application relied heavily on information from news articles, including a CBS Miami piece titled "Moving Trucks Spotted At Mar-a-Lago" and a Breitbart News article in which former Trump adviser Kash Patel discussed the classified status of documents the bureau previously removed from the estate on behalf of the National Archives.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley confirmed to Just the News prior to the raid that Thibault had been removed from his post and reassigned to an unspecified position.

It’s habbening

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https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1564316745128726529?s=20&t=32OQS9ogLiSazM0THnIcvA

Former Trump adviser Patel: Trump had been working on declassifying docs while in White House

Updated: August 29, 2022 - 5:13pm

Former Trump adviser Kash Patel said Monday the former president had been working on declassifying documents relating to "RussiaGate" before leaving the White House.

"The president had been working on these for a while – to issue declassification orders and did issue declassification orders," Patel said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

Kash Patel offers Trump defense: He may have already ‘verbally’ declassified the documentsKash Patel offers Trump defense: He may have already ‘verbally’ declassified the documents

Patel made the comment following the FBI's raid of former President Trump's Florida estate who were looking for document Trump took when leaving the White House, instead of turning them over to the National Archives.

Trump and his team have argued amid the Justice Department investigation on the matter – and subsequent court proceedings regarding evidence the federal government used get a affidavit and search warrant for the raid – that the former president had declassified the materials at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

His team has also said some of the material seized was protected by attorney-client privilege.

"One of the times in the Oval Office he had RussiaGate docs. And he said that these are declassified and the American public needs to see them, Patel also said, referring to the now-debunked argument that the 2016 Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to help them win the election.

Patel also acknowledged on the podcast the existence of documents besides those regarding collusion related to the matter.

In addition, Patel said others in the Trump White House witnessed the former president declassify documents, but he could not recall who.

"It's incumbent upon the DOJ and FBI to show that this material was not declassified, and whether or not it was handled improperly or properly," Patel said. "There's a whole other debate that's already been settled by the DOJ and FBI application of these statutes to Hillary Clinton."

The Justice Department looked into whether Clinton as secretary of state has mishandled emails with possible sensitive information but concluded in 2016 that she had not "deliberately" done so.

The affidavit regarding the FBI raid was made public Friday, but much of it was redacted. The FBI's argument, in part, for blocking out information was to protect witnesses involved in the investigation, but Patel's name was not redacted.

"These individuals intentionally decided to politicize this affidavit for many reasons," he said. "But one, which I wasn't even expecting them to do, was put my name out there. It's added absolutely no value by every procedure at the Department of Justice in relation to protecting parties and people's names.

"They did it for a political effect because they wanted to try to silence me and President Trump and everybody else and get the mainstream media to threaten me, which they've done."

https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/former-trump-advisor-president-trump-had-been-working-declassifying