FBI Director Admits Unfair Treatment in Hunter Biden Probe, Vows To Protect Whistleblowers as Republicans Seek Answers

Hunter Biden Probe: DOJ Offers Investigator To Testify Before Congress — The top prosecutor in Hunter Biden's case is prepared to appear publicly despite House Republicans' demands for a closed-door session. Drew Angerer/ Getty Images

Under questioning from Republican senators on Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray was forced to admit that allegations that biased FBI agents protected the first son of the country, Hunter Biden, from criminal investigations are "deeply troubling." He then cut the Q&A short by saying he had to catch a flight.

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee's top Republican, pointed out that Wray wasn't taking a commercial flight and begged the FBI director in vain to delay the departure of his government plane.

Wray Says FBI Will Protect Whistleblowers in Hunter Biden Probe

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) questioned Wray on whistleblower claims made against Brian Auten, the FBI's supervisory intelligence analyst, and Tim Thibault, the assistant special agent in charge of the DC field office.

Kennedy brought up the accusations against the two FBI agents that Grassley had made public last month. Kennedy also pointed out to Wray a number of Thibault's attacks on Republicans on social media, which mirrored those made on Republicans by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page as the agency was looking into potential Russian interference in Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

Per NY Post, Auten and Thibault were reportedly participating in "a conspiracy" to "undermine unfavorable material associated to Hunter Biden by falsely alleging it was misinformation," according to Grassley's letter to Wray from July.

In addition, the whistleblowers said that there was a "pattern of active public partisanship" inside the agencies about inquiries into the Trump campaign and the obfuscation of evidence regarding the Hunter Biden investigation. The whistleblowers claimed Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and others engaged in a "practice of aggressive public partisanship."

Thibault's "partisanship likely influenced investigations presented to, and authorized by, top Justice Department and FBI officials," according to Grassley's letter to Wray and Garland last week. Whistleblowers claim that Thibault violated DOJ and FBI standards by opening an inquiry without adhering to severe requirements for strong factual predication. Wray vowed to protect the whistleblowers at the hearing, Fox News reported.

Wray also demoted Thibault from his position of authority. However, Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, is urging more steps to address partisanship within the FBI. Johnson was alluding to the politicization of the FBI's inquiry into possible collusion between President Trump's first campaign and Russia in order to affect the 2016 presidential election.

Sens.Johnson, Grisly Vow To Investigate Hunter Biden Scandal

Around the same time that the DOJ apparently dismissed Hunter Biden's laptop as false information, the majority of the major media outlets reportedly chose to ignore it. At the time, intelligence professionals regarded the hard drive as "Russian disinformation."

When the Washington Post verified its contents earlier this year, it entered the news cycle of the major media. Hunter Biden's foreign business deals were discovered to be the subject of a federal tax probe this year as well, though there haven't been any developments or news coverage of that issue since June.

Hunter Biden "cashed in" on his family name while his father served as vice president, according to a separate 2020 investigation by Senators Grassley and Johnson. The investigation even raised some red flags within the State Department regarding the 52-year-old recovering drug addict's lucrative position on the board of an energy company in Ukraine.

The investigation into the case, meanwhile, found no misconduct on President Joe Biden's part. In the event that Republicans win control of Congress in November, Grassley and Johnson have both said they will investigate the situation further, as per Daily Mail.