Under fire from Republican senators, FBI Director Christopher Wray was forced to admit that allegations accusing FBI agents of protecting first son Hunter Biden from criminal investigations were “deeply troubling,” before ending the Q&A before it’s time claiming he had a flight to catch. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pleaded to no avail that Wray rescheduled the departure of this government jet, after noting he wasn’t flying commercial.
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Before leaving, however, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La, pressed Wray regarding the whistleblower claims against Tim Thibault, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s DC field office, and Brian Auten, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst. “Isn’t it true that Mr. Thibault — Agent Thibault, excuse me — and [Auten] covered up derogatory information about Mr. Hunter Biden while working for the FBI?” Kennedy asked Wray. The senator also cited Thibault’s social media posts against Republicans, something that resembled the anti-GOP attacks by FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, said the NY Post.
In response, Wray said that “[I] want to be very careful not to interfere with ongoing personnel matters,” adding that “I should say that when I read the letter that describes the kinds of things that you’re talking about, I found it deeply troubling.” In his letter to Wray, Grassley stated that both Auten and Thibault had a part in “a scheme” to “undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.” He also wrote that FBI Headquarters tried to “improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.”
Citing some of Thibault’s social media messages, senator Kennedy asked the FBI director if he knows “how this looks to the American people?” before asking about Thibault’s involvement in the FBI investigation of Mr. Hunter Biden.
In response to Kennedy’s statements, Wray said that “what you’re describing is not representative of the FBI… where I see patriots working their tails off with tremendous integrity and objectivity.” When Kennedy tried to confirm whether or not Thibault was involved in the ongoing investigation, Wray wouldn’t answer directly. “Did he or does he work on the FBI investigation of Mr. Hunter Biden?” Kennedy asked again, regarding the investigation of possible tax fraud, unregistered foreign lobbying, and money laundering by Hunter Biden.
After the Washington Post and New York Times verified documents from an allegedly former Hunter Biden laptop, his dealings around the world came to the spotlight this year. This includes his business deals with his father, Joe Biden, which presents a conflict of interest for the president.
Emails discovered on Hunter Biden’s laptop seems to indicate his father was involved with his associates from Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Hunter Biden earned a reported $1 million per year from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma to serve on their board, while his then vice president father spearheaded the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy. The Washington Post also reported that Hunter Biden and his uncle, Jim Biden, both received $4.8 million from his dealings with CEFC China Energy.