Senators release whistleblower docs showing anti-Trump FBI agent helped launch lawfare case

Two senior Republican lawmakers released protected whistleblower disclosures Thursday revealing how an anti-Trump FBI agent went outside established agency protocols for opening probes to help launch the federal election interference case against the president.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin released internal FBI emails and documents that exposed an alleged political scheme by Timothy Thibault, a former FBI assistant Special Agent in Charge.

Mr. Thibault, whom The Washington Times first reported in August 2022 was forced to retire from the FBI after exposing his anti-Trump bias, authored the initial language for what ultimately became special prosecutor Jack Smith’s federal case against Mr. Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election, according to the new whistleblower documents provided by the GOP senators.

According to the newly released records, Mr. Thibault essentially opened and approved his own investigation, for which the FBI titled the subsequent investigation “Arctic Frost.”

The records further show that Justice Department official Richard Pilger, who worked in the Public Integrity Section, reviewed and approved the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation, and approved the Justice Department to go ahead with a full field criminal and Grand Jury investigation that became the Trump elector case.

Mr. Grassley published a 2021 report that raised concerns regarding Mr. Pilger’s troubling record at Justice.

Mr. Grassley in 2022 additionally questioned Mr. Thibault’s role at the FBI, writing, “I remain very concerned that political bias by a select group of Justice Department and FBI officials has infected the Justice Department’s and FBI’s usual process and procedure to open and pursue high-profile and politically charged investigations.”

Mr. Grassley and Mr. Johnson in November called on Mr. Smith to preserve all records related to Trump-targeted investigations.

“It’s clear how unfair and corrupt the Trump prosecution was, and that’s created little faith at best in the grand jury process,” Mr. Grassley said during the confirmation hearing for Mr. Trump’s FBI Director nominee, Kash Patel.

“Jack Smith’s lawfare efforts and his corrupt process should be what this committee investigates,” he said.

Mr. Smith withdrew the prosecution after Mr. Trump won the election in November.

The Iowa Republican said that the committee should not allow part of that “corrupt process” to be used by the committee against Mr. Patel, who was compelled by Mr. Smith’s grand jury to testify as a witness in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and was given immunity for his testimony.

Democrats on the panel demanded that Mr. Patel reveal what he told the grand jury, but Mr. Patel refused to do so without having a transcript of his testimony.